He is a Bach Evangelist, tenor, choral director and teacher who took his musical studies at the University of Southern California and Pacific Lutheran University and received his doctorate from the University of Arizona.
Frequently appearing as a solo singer throughout his career he has performed with ensembles and orchestras that include the American Sinfonietta, the Bach Choir of Berlin, the Florida Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony , the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Miami Bach Society, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and Chamber Singers, the Seattle Chamber Singers. Acclaimed for his work as an Evangelist on Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion and St. John’s Passion, he has performed in this role all over the United States, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall, where he has also performed in Handel’s Messiah.
Carrying on his Bach interest he became the founder of the Bach Institute at Valparaiso University, Indiana, in 2004 with scholarships that concentrate on Bach’s professional life and works prior to 1723 when he settled in Leipzig.
As a choral director he has led the Valparaiso University Chorale in concerts throughout Europe and the United States, including St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, and also on several recordings. He has also led several choirs around the United States, the choirs at the Lutheran Summer Music for a six-year period and the International Choral Invitation held in Hong Kong in 2006.
Appearing on many recordings he can be heard on The Sound of Glory with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir , Sound of Angels: Christmas Hymns & Carols by the Robert Shaw Chamber Chorale and Amazing Grace – American Hymns & Spirituals, Poulenc: Mass in G; Motets and O Magnum Mysterium with the Shaw Festival Singers and In Paradisum with the Valparaiso University Chorale.
As a teacher has held the position of Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Valparaiso University as well as Director of the Bach Institute and the Dusenberg Chair in Lutheran Music.
Robert Shaw Chamber Singers recordings
Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional French/James Chadwick / Edward Shippen Barnes )
Telarc 80377 ( CD: Songs of Angels: Christmas Hymns & Carols )
Conductor – Robert Shaw
Here he is talking about St. Matthew Passion by Bach in 2010…
Sources:
- http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Cock-Christopher.htm
- http://www.valpo.edu/music/ChristopherCock.html
- http://www.grago.org/conv2005/people/christopher_cock.shtml
- http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Christopher%20Cock&page=1
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:18136~T3