At Kim Cook’s Carnegie Hall debut, critics admired her "ravishing colors and textures" (New York Concert Review). In Europe, she was hailed as “the superb American cellist” (Die Rheinpfalz, Frankfurt), and lauded for her "truly glorious tone" (Musical Opinion, London) and "keen awareness of line and style” (The Strad). Ms. Cook has performed to critical acclaim as a soloist in 26 countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, China, Israel, Jordan, Latin America, and throughout the United States. She has toured extensively as an International Artistic Ambassador for the U. S. State Department, presenting concerts and master classes internationally. Recent performances include recitals in New York, Baltimore, and the University of Cambridge, and concerto performances with the Dublin Festival Orchestra in Ireland and with the Volgograd Symphony in Russia.

Ms. Cook’s recordings include the Concerto in B minor by Dvorak with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the two Haydn concertos with the Dvorak Collegium in the Czech Republic, and the solo sonatas of Kodaly, Crumb, and Hindemith.  Her recording of the Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich and the Rococo Variations by Tchaikovsky with conductor Edward Serov and the Volgograd Symphony was released in March of 2009.

A graduate of Yale and the University of Illinois, Ms. Cook studied with Gabriel Magyar, Aldo Parisot, Alan Harris, and Janos Starker. She was principal cellist of the Sao Paulo Symphony under the direction of Eleazar de Carvalho, and taught at New Mexico State before assuming her current position as Professor of Cello at Penn State.

At Penn State, Ms. Cook’s cello studio has attracted talented cellists from Europe, Asia, South America and the United States. Ms. Cook's students have won many prestigious awards, and former students currently occupy positions in orchestras and music schools in the United States, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Croatia, and Taiwan.  She lives in State College with her husband Peter Heaney, Professor of Geosciences.  This year Professor Cook serves as the inaugural Penn State Laureate for the Arts and Humanities.