About

Shane Scott Cook is a composer, songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose work focuses on community and connection. A compelling up-and-coming voice in new music, his work draws from his eclectic musical upbringing as a classical percussionist, jazz singer, folk enthusiast and musical theater aficionado.

Currently, Shane is Teaching-Artist-in-Residence with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, California for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. As a teaching artist, he is developing new curriculums in percussion, piano, composing and songwriting for public school students in Anderson Valley Unified School District. He was recently named a Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow for Salastina’s 2024-25 season, and wrote a new work premiered by the organization in September 2024. Shane will serve as Composer-in-Residence for Del Sol Quartet’s 2025 Chamberfest, where the quartet will premiere his newest string quartet, Toccata, and festival participants will perform his other chamber works.

Other recent projects include a cycle for violin and mezzo soprano for Duo Cortona, the premiere of his cycle for high voice and chamber orchestra, The Distance Between, by soprano Lindsay Kesselman and UT Austin’s New Music Ensemble. Upcoming projects include a new work for Quintet Attacca to be premiered at the 2025 EarTaxi Festival, and an EP of his solo singer-songwriter project, expected for release in early 2025.

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Shane Scott Cook (b. 1994) is a composer, songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose work focuses on community and connection. A compelling up-and-coming voice in new music, his work draws from his eclectic musical upbringing as a classical percussionist, jazz singer, folk enthusiast and musical theater aficionado, with works written for Del Sol String Quartet, Duo Cortona, Salastina, Attacca Quintet, the LYNX Project, Consonance Chicago Choral Artists, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, and Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak. 

Currently, Shane is Teaching-Artist-in-Residence with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, California for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. As a teaching artist, he is developing new curriculums in percussion, piano, composing and songwriting for public school students in Anderson Valley Unified School District. He was recently named a Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow for Salastina’s 2024-25 season, and wrote a new work premiered by the organization in September 2024. In May 2024, his song i am received first place in the Fifth Annual Chicago SongSLAM, an art song competition hosted by Chicago’s Fourth Coast Ensemble in conjunction with Sparks and Wiry Cries.

Recently, Chicago-based LYNX Project commissioned Shane to write Three Songs, a cycle with poet Amelia Bell for their 2022-23 Amplify Series. The series focused on amplifying the voices of neurodivergent poets and writers. Three Songs premiered in May 2023 with additional performances in June 2023 on Classical Chicago's Rush Hour Concert Series. His choral work, Two Letters to Self, commissioned by Consonance Chicago Choral Artists, premiered in May 2023 under director Michael Costello, with additional performances at the TUTTI Festival at Denison University in March 2024. He is an alumni of multiple programs and residencies at Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, including Composing Earth, a program focused on equipping young artists to combat the ongoing climate crisis through their work. 

Previously, Shane spent two summers studying the fundamentals of Hindustani classical music under the tutelage of Reena Esmail, Saili Oak, Payton MacDonald, and Shawn Mativetsky at Shastra, leading to subsequent performances of his work Ajapa Jaap across the United States and India, and the recording of two of his arrangements for hindustani voice and string quartet on Saili Oak's 2019 debut album, "Beyond”.

Outside of classical music, recent projects include contributing orchestrations to pop star Halsey’s summer 2023 orchestra shows, new string quartet arrangements for Orchid Quartet’s recent string of singer-songwriter showcase concerts (leading up to the release of an album), and developing a jukebox musical using the music of blues rock band Alabama Shakes with BMI Workshop Fellow Selena Deer. He is also writing and recording songs for his solo singer-songwriter project, with plans to release an EP in early 2025. 

Shane holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where he assisted and conducted the New Music Ensemble, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Biola University. Composition teachers and mentors include Gabriela Frank, Derrick Skye, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Omar Thomas, Reena Esmail, Donald Grantham, and Robert Denham, Mike Watts, and Alex Lu.