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“Cocks wields complete command of not only the flute, but the flute-body. And it’s important to note that this … is not merely virtuosic for virtuosity sake. Cocks is adventurous, but more importantly, thoughtful.” — I Care If You Listen
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“The violent, full-contact flutework of New York woodwind-manhandler Laura Cocks cuts a savage, visceral path.” — Stereogum, 10 Best Experimental Albums Of 2022

Laura Cocks (they/she) is a flutist with “febrile instrumental prowess” (The New York Times), who works in a wide array of environments as a performer of experimental music and “creates intricate, spellbinding works that have a visceral physicality to them” (Foxy Digitalis).

Laura is the executive director and flutist of TAK ensemble, “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen), with whom Laura makes musics "that combine crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex” (WIRE Magazine). They are also a member of Talea Ensemble, noted for their “astonishing fluidity,” “compelling lucidity, ” and “precise control” (The New York Times).
As a soloist, improviser, and chamber musician, they have performed with musicians such as DoYeon Kim, Shara Lunon, Timothy Angulo, yuniya edi kwon, Luke Stewart, Wendy Eisenberg, Lester St. Louis, Brandon Lopez, Madison Greenstone, International Contemporary Ensemble, Sun Ra Arkestra, Wet Ink Ensemble, and many others in NYC and abroad.
Their recent solo album, field anatomies (Carrier Records), noted as one of Stereogum’s top-ten experimental releases of the year, charted in the Billboard top ten “Classical Crossover” releases and was praised for its “superhuman physicality” and “disciplined patience” (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Release and Experimental Release). Laura can be heard on labels such as ECM, Denovali Records, Catalytic Sound, TAK editions, Tripticks Tapes, Carrier Records, Chambray Records, Double Whammy Whammy, New Focus Records, Sound American, Orange Mountain Music, Supertrain, Gold Bolus, Hideous Replica, Sideband Records, and many others.

Laura has been in residence at institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, The Centre for Research in New Music at Huddersfield University, University of Chicago, The Delian Academy for New Music, and many others. They have given masterclasses and taught seminars in performance practice, composition, professional development, and applied critical theory at institutions such as Oberlin Conservatory, California Institute of the Arts, University of California San Diego, Columbia University, and at University of Pennsylvania, where TAK held the position of Long-term Visiting Ensemble in Residence from 2022-2023. They have served on the faculty of The New School and The Washington Heights Conservatory. Laura studied with Michel Debost, William Bennett, Kate Hill, and Tara Helen O’Connor at the Oberlin Conservatory, Royal Academy of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. They hold a doctorate from The Graduate Center and continue their writing and research in corporeal analyses of art and musical praxis.

“Cocks’ music exists in simultaneous spheres of deep, investigative realities and an effervescent glow of pure, joyous expression...Cocks’ performance is otherwordly, turning this intricate, difficult dance into an awe-inspiring aural spectacle.” — Foxy Digitalis

“It was one of the most rock ’n roll things I’ve ever heard and seen.” — Best Is Noise

MEDIA EXAMPLES:

OXYGEN AND REALITY

FL [Falsa Lectio] #2 — Dmitri Kourliandski (14")

Oxygen and Reality* — Bethany Younge (13")

Produktionsmittel I — Joan Arnau Pàmies (25")

I dance in the morning until the sun finds me missing* — Natacha Diels (8")
 

* denotes commissioned work

More information, including technical specs here

SPIRITUS

Emergent for flute and electronics — George Lewis( 12")

Oxygen and Reality* — Bethany Younge (13")

You’ll see me return to the city of fury — DM R (8")

Spiritus — Jessie Cox (7")

Strange Gods — Laura Cocks (12)
 

* denotes commissioned work

More information, including technical specs here