Tenor Thomas Cooley '91 Recounts the Journey from DePauw to International Concert Halls

October 31, 2004

October 31, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - "I graduated from DePauw (University in Indiana) and decided to take some time off from school before pursuing a master's degree," say Thomas Cooley, a lyric tenor who has appeared internationally with numerous operas, orchestras and ensembles and is a 1991 graduate of DePauw University. In an article in today's edition of Minnesota's St. Paul Pioneer Press, he continues, "I started singing with the Minnesota Chorale. I was a volunteer the first year and then a paid soloist from my second season on. I also began singing with the Minnesota Opera Chorus and got a soloist job at House of Hope Presbyterian on Summit Avenue." The newspaper notes, "he has performed with the Bavarian State Opera, Krakow State Opera, Neue Opernbühne Berlin, Ex Machina Baroque Opera and at the Aldeburgh Festival in England. From his home in Munich, Germany, he's now a fixture in principal roles at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz."

In a telephone interview from Munich, the 34-year-old Cooley tells the Pioneer Press, "Nobody in my family is a musician. My uncle sings, but he never studied seriously. I took piano lessons from the time I was 8, but it wasn't until junior high and high school that I had experiences with really good choir directors who made me aware there's really good classical vocal music, and not until college that I heard you could do it as a career."

Cooley, who studied under Thomas Fitzpatrick at DePauw, offers this advice to young musicians: "Work on foreign languages when you're young... But the most important thing, if you're going to study voice, is to have a teacher you feel comfortable with and are making progress with... But you also have to go on to college and learn your trade. The days of the 20-year-old Met debut are pretty much gone, as far as I'm concerned. People are a lot less willing to take that chance on the untried, untested singer. I've built a very nice career without going the New York route, but if you live in Osseo, you'll have to go somewhere else."

Read the complete interview by clicking here. Access a biography of Thomas Cooley here.

Visit the DePauw University School of Music online here.

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