““In the tenor aria of comfort and peace, “Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer,” with its gentle rocking motion and calming character, one hears Bach similar approaches of coming to peaceful terms with mortality (as he evoked in the aria from BWV 82, “Schlummert ein,” or the Matthew Passion’s bass aria “Mache dich, mein Herze rein,” and the solo alto cantata, BWV 170, “Vergnügte Ruh”). It is in this aria that some of the best singing on the recording may heard. Tenor Thomas Cooley delivers a devastatingly beautiful and passionate delivery of text, fullness of tone in all registers, and undisturbed legato line. His hushed pianissimo at the da capo seems to make time stand still, in breathless awe and unimaginable serenity. His intonation is flawless.”

-Early Music America (Easter Oratorio with Cantata Collective and Nicholas McGegan)

“From the moment internationally renowned tenor Thomas Cooley pierced the stillness with “Comfort ye,” I was entranced. During the entire time he sang, he did not glance at his music once. He held his closed folio to his chest, releasing sonorous lines that he summoned with each breath, seeming to conjure it from the thousands of performances that graced this elegant, century-and-a-quarter old, horseshoe-shaped musical hall. Of particular note, was Cooley’s deportment when singing “Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow…”. The music came from a place deeper than his larynx. His eyes shaped it. His smile embraced it. It was if the notes spoke to his soul through osmosis: the way verses from Scripture inspire the preacher who clutches a well-worn, closed Bible.”

-Boston Classical Music Intelligencer (Messiah, Boston Baroque with Fillippo Ciabatti, conductor)

“Cooley conveyed warmth, intensity, and everything in between. His bell-toned voice captured the excited anticipation of “Ev’ry Valley” and the righteous rage of “Thou shallt break them.” A single phrase could encompass more than one mood. That made “Thy rebuke hath broken his heart” feel as poignant as one of the contributions from the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.”

-artsfuse.org (Messiah, Boston Baroque with Fillippo Ciabatti, conductor)

“As the Evangelist, tenor Thomas Cooley threaded the proceedings together with his elegantly nuanced singing.  Solid throughout, Cooley’s voice reached into the cavernous hall with great ease.  His role was essential to the nature of the story and he certainly understood the assignment.

As the Evangelist, most of tenor Thomas Cooley’s singing carried the essence of the story in declamatory fashion.  In the aria “Frohe Hirten” Cooley shifted to a lovely legato that floated into the space.  Filled with motion and a joyful frolic, he brought true vision to the joyfulness expressed by the shepherds.”

-Patrick D. McCoy (Washington Bach Consort, Christmas Oratorio with Dana Marsh, conductor)

“Thomas Cooley is a sterling Evangelist. The tenor’s voice is gratifyingly focused throughout the registers. The Evangelist’s numerous journeys above the staff are never forced or strained, but they certainly pack the requisite intensity and fire when appropriate. Cooley’s ability to sustain long phrases on a single breath offers many dividends, notably in Bach’s depiction of Peter’s weeping (“und weinete bitterlich”). And Cooley is ever attentive to the text and Bach’s setting of it. His Evangelist is a narrator immersed in the magnitude and emotions of the drama.”

-Early Music America (St. John Passion with Cantata Collective and Nicholas McGegan)

“Tenor Thomas Cooley’s attention to detail was a plus throughout the evening, and hushed moments were especially effective. His sweet tone characterized an arresting depiction of the silvery moon, and he created a gorgeous, awed moment in the recitative “In rosy mantle.” Observing the creating of Adam and Eve, Cooley maintained a sense of wonder and tenderness, ascending to a gorgeous pianissimo as Eve looks upon Adam with ‘love and joy and bliss.’”

-Opera News (Creation, Mostly Mozart )

“The tenor Thomas Cooley opened with Britten’s setting of Michelangelo’s Sonnet XVI. So here was a tenor, using the extravagantly resonant acoustics of a National Gallery of Art domed courtyard, to pour phrases of molten quicksilver into notes dreamed up by a composer who, as a gift to his lover, had set to music a poem by a Renaissance artist who had laid down chisel and paintbrush to write words about creativity and love. Whew.”

-New York Times “8 Best Classical Music Moments This Week” (recital w/ Robert Spano)

“Cooley sang with a clean, forward sound and a natural command of style. A superb technique allowed him to articulate the florid passages as musically as he did the more lyrical pages. Most important. there was a nobility of address in everything he sang…”

-Chicago Tribune (Judas Maccabaeus, Music of the Baroque)

“The role of Idomeneo sung by Thomas Cooley was brilliant, especially since several of his arias are easily some of the most challenging in the tenor repertoire. His physical stamina, coupled with his masterful musicianship allowed for an impressive delivery, especially in some challenging melismatic passages. It was an impressive accomplishment…”

-Peninsula Reviews (Idomeneo, Carmel Bach Festival)

“…this is an opera in which the villain casts a long shadow, and tenor Thomas Cooley proved breathtaking as Peter Quint, a ghost seemingly able to hypnotize his victims with, in Cooley's case, a velvety voice.”

-Pioneer Press (Turn of the Screw, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra)

“Cooley displayed fiendish agility and acted with vicious intensity throughout...in a role thatrequired extended range, powerful volume and considerable facility with coloratura.”

-Musical America (Tamerlano, Göttingen Handel Festival)

“The fine tenor was Thomas Cooley. With excellent French he infused these youthful and sensuous pieces with imagination and color.”

-American Record Guide (Les Illuminations, Carnegie Hall)

“★★★★★… Thomas Cooley makes a tragic Samson, from his first soliloquy on his mental anguish,through a heart-rending ‘Total Eclipse’ to his humility and returning strength in Act III.”

-BBC Music Magazine Monthly Choice (Samson SACD Review)

“And then ‘the Thomas Cooley case,’ the Don Ottavio. What should we say? The man sang his two arias so inhumanly beautifully-his ‘Dalla sua pace’ was a diamond –that for a moment we no longer knew what we were doing. The last thing we are aiming for is the Fritz Wunderlich police, but our thoughts wandered for a moment to the best Mozart tenor ever. Cooley’s expressiveness, virtuosity and expressiveness [sic] are of an extraterrestrial level. A breathtaking climax.“

—Opera Gazette (Don Giovanni Orchestra of the 18th Century)

“The tenor in this opera is provided beautifully by Thomas Cooley’s dulcet tones, as Don Ottavio, who hopes to win Donna Anna’s hand by consoling her after the murder of her father, Il Commendatore. This for me was the outstanding performance of the evening.”

—Arts Talk Magazine NL