Penn State Laureate and world-renown cellist Kim Cook will be visiting Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, in early December and will perform in a mid-day public event on Dec. 8 in the Maggie Hardy Magerko Auditorium in the Community Center. Area high school music students have been invited, and the general public also is encouraged to attend this free event. Beginning at 11:30 a.m. there will be a “Getting to Know the Cello: A Conversation with Penn State Laureate Kim Cook.” From noon to 1 p.m. will be performances by Cook and the Penn State Fayette Choir.
Cook is the University’s inaugural Penn State Laureate and is a professor of music in cello in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State’s University Park Campus. A graduate of Yale and the University of Illinois, Cook studied with Gabriel Magyar, Aldo Parisot, Alan Harris, and Janos Starker. She was principal cellist of the Sao Paulo Symphony under the direction of Eleazar de Carvalho, and taught at New Mexico State. Cook has performed as a soloist in many countries of Europe, Asia, Latin America, and throughout the United States. And she has toured extensively as an International Artistic Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, presenting concerts and master classes throughout the world. Cook has been hailed as “the superb American cellist” and “acclaimed for her truly glorious tone, ravishing colors and textures.” As professor of cello at Penn State, she has one of the important cello studios in the Northeast, attracting talented cellists from Europe and throughout the United States.
Cook will perform at Penn State Fayette accompanied by pianist Svetlana Rodionova, who was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she earned her doctorate from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Rodionova eventually emigrated to Europe, settling first in Spain, and then the United States. She has performed throughout the United States and the world.
In addition to Cook, the event will feature the Penn State Fayette Campus Choir, which will make its debut performance under the direction of Jason Kendall.
“We are very pleased to bring such world-renown musicians to our campus and community, as well as debut our newly-formed campus choir," said Penn State Fayette Chancellor Emmanuel I. Osagie. "It is not often that high-caliber musicians such as Cook and Rodionova come to Fayette County. So, we hope area school children and adults, alike, will take advantage of the opportunity to attend this free special event."