About
Shane Scott Cook (b. 1994) is a composer, performer, and songwriter whose work explores themes of community, connection, nature, and the queer experience. His music, shaped by an eclectic background as a classical percussionist, jazz singer, folk enthusiast, and musical theater aficionado, has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and artists such as Del Sol Quartet, Salastina, Stare at the Sun, Consonance, LYNX Project, Duo Cortona, 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 (2023-25), developing new curriculums in percussion, piano, composing and songwriting for public school students in Anderson Valley Unified School District. Upcoming commissions include a new work for Quintet Attacca for EarTaxi Festival 2025 and a song cycle for tenor and piano through Boston Singers’ Resource and Catalyst New Music’s 2025 “FUSE: Collaborations in Song!” program.
Shane served as Composer-in-Residence for Del Sol Quartet’s 2025 Chamberfest, and a 2024 Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow with Salastina. Other recent highlights include the 2025 Dragon Prize in Choral Music from Minnesota State University Moorhead, first prize at Fourth Coast Ensemble’s 2024 Chicago SongSlam, and the premiere of his song cycle The Distance Between, by soprano Lindsay Kesselman, conductor Marc Sosnowchik, and the University of Texas at Austin’s New Music Ensemble.
In Fall 2025, Shane will begin doctoral studies in composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
Full-Length
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.
