B.M.E
Music Education – Choral
University of Arizona
M.A.
Vocal Performance
Minnesota State University – Moorhead
About
Biography
Maura Janton Cock, soprano, is an Adjunct Professor of Voice at Valparaiso University. She earned her Bachelor of Music Education (Choral) degree at the University of Arizona (Tucson) and her Master of Arts (Vocal Performance) at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. She previously taught on the music faculty at Concordia College (Moorhead). She has appeared as soloist with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, the Southwest Michigan Symphony, and the Northwest Indiana Symphony. Professor Cock worked extensively with Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers as both soloist and chorus member, and Helmuth Rilling of the Oregon Bach Festival. She is a participating musician on two Grammy-winning recordings with these famed conductors (Rachmaninoff Vespers and Penderecki Credo).
A regular performer with the Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra, she has been soprano soloist in such works as Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, and Mahler’s Symphony no. 2. Performing with the VU Chamber Concert Band, she was the soprano soloist for the premiere of Johan de Meij’s Symphony No. 5: Return to Middle Earth. A part of the Bach Institute at Valparaiso University since its founding in 2004, Professor Cock has been the soprano soloist multiple times for J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and numerous cantatas, in addition to Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Her engagements include performances with the Michigan Bach Collegium, Bach Chamber Choir and Orchestra of Rockford (Ill.), Miami Bach Society (FL), the Dayton Bach Society (Ohio), the Cuesta Master Chorale and Orchestra (Calif.) and the Bach Collegium Valparaiso. She appears regularly on the Bach Cantata Series at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Ill. In 2005, Professor Cock was privileged to give the Midwest premiere of Bach’s lost aria, Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn on VU’s campus. In 2024 she was the soprano soloist for the premiere of Marjorie Rusche’s Border Songs.
Professor Cock worked with Valpo’s theatre department, providing musical direction for The Cradle Will Rock, Side by Side by Sondheim, Cabaret and vocal direction for Dido and Aeneas and Sondheim on Sondheim. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
