Pianist Adam Cook happy to be home as he prepares to headline Albany Sinfonia’s 30th anniversary concert

Pianist Adam Cook has adored Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue ever since he was a teenager at Great Southern Grammar, where he was the only ATAR student doing music. He loved that it breached the divide between classical music and jazz, something he has been doing as a teacher, composer and performer ever since. During his interview with the Advertiser, he played a snippet of the 1920s classic and got so lost in the music, it seemed he would never stop — fingers darting across the keys, eyes looking intently at the score but not really needing it. This is why he doesn’t listen to music casually, or in his car, he says. “I can’t have it as background, I’d need to concentrate on driving,” he said. “Music needs my full attention. “There has to be an intensity, even in listening.” His musical journey has been as broad as the piano keyboard, in his words “starting small, getting big, and then getting small again, by choice”. “When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with practice, imagining playing in large venues, so I was a little naive,” he said. “Will Upson was my teacher at Great Southern Grammar, and thanks to that impressive teacher-student ratio, I really thrived. “I got an education beyond the cookie-cutter, classical brief.” Accustomed to the improvisational approach at GSG, he felt restricted in his first year of a composition major at the University of WA, so he went to Canberra to finish his Bachelor of Music. He completed his honours at the Australian National University in 2012, playing the world premiere of Australian composer Larry Sitsky’s Sonata No.2 In Three Movements, composed specially for him. He then went to France for his Diplome d’Etudes, and to Melbourne, where he was the principal accompanist to the Australian Children’s Choir. He toured Europe with the choir, fell in love with Hungary and the Czech Republic and then, when COVID-19 struck in 2020, returned to WA, specifically Youngs Siding. He has been there ever since, now building a house and adapting to family life with wife Amy and their two young boys. “Albany and the Great Southern region are brilliant for the arts and music,” he said. “It’s also brilliant for giving people opportunities.I enjoy conducting but if I were in Melbourne or Perth, I wouldn’t get a look in. “I’m having a go at the harpsichord, and the same applies. “Regional arts are magical.” That’s lucky for the Albany Sinfonia, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a concert next month at the Albany Entertainment Centre. It will be a varied program, with Cook playing the rhapsody just before the interval. After that he’s not sure, except he wants to continue studying to “keep my eye in”. On his radar is “the next piece of paper”, a rare credential in music theory through the Australian Music Examinations Board. He will also continue teaching from his base at the Wesley Uniting Church in Duke Street but has pledged to Amy there will be no major distractions until their house is finished. Rhapsody in Time: Albany Sinfonia 30 Years will be at the Albany Entertainment Centre at 3pm on May 24.