Gerald Cohen | |
---|---|
Birth name | Gerald Cohen |
Born | 1960 New York, New York |
Genres | Opera, Choral Music, Orchestra music |
Occupation(s) | Composer, pianist, cantor |
Instrument(s) | Piano, Vocals |
Years active | 1982–present |
Gerald Cohen (born 1960 in New York, NY) is an American composer and cantor. He is currently the cantor at Shaarei Tikvah in Scarsdale, New York and is based in Yonkers. [1] Cohen serves on the faculties of Jewish Theological Seminary [2] and Hebrew Union College. [3] Cohen's compositions are published by Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer/AMP, and Transcontinental Music Publications. [1]
Cohen earned a B.A. in music from Yale University in 1982. [1] Shortly afterwards, he began working as a cantor while attending Columbia University where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (D.M.A.) [1] in composition, with distinction, in 1993. His principal composition teachers were Jack Beeson, Mario Davidovsky, George Edwards, and Andrew Thomas. Jacob Mendelson was Cohen's primary cantorial studies teacher. [4] Cohen's music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles including: the Cassatt String Quartet, [5] Verdehr Trio, [6] Franciscan String Quartet, [7] Chesapeake Chamber Music, [8] Grneta Ensemble, [9] Wave Hill Trio, [10] Bronx Arts Ensemble, [11] and Brooklyn Philharmonic Brass Quintet; [12] by choruses including the New York Virtuoso Singers, [13] Canticum Novum Singers, [14] Syracuse Children's Chorus, [7] St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, [15] Zamir Chorale of Boston, [16] Usdan Center Chorus, [17] the Cantors Assembly of America, [14] HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir, [18] and the Westchester Youth Symphony. [19] Battery Dance Company commissioned his Songs of Tagore [20] which accompanied dance performances on tours throughout India and Eastern Europe.
Cohen's music has been performed by the Borromeo String Quartet, [21] Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, [22] San Diego Symphony, [13] Westchester Philharmonic, [13] Riverside Symphony, [8] Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, New York Concert Singers, Princeton Pro Musica, and many other ensembles and soloists. [23]
Cohen's music reflects his embracing of both Western classical traditions and his Jewish roots. Ken Smith, writing for Gramaphone, says of Cohen's style:
Cohen composes with a strong sense of tradition -- one that embraces Brahms, Bartok and Britten on one hand and his own Jewish heritage on the other. Which side becomes more prominent depends, it seems, on how deeply any particular piece is rooted to text. A cantor himself, Cohen's songs and his Passover Cantata V'higad'ta L'vincha display a linguistic fluidity and a melodic gift that hints at what the Hebrew liturgy might be like today if Britten had changed faiths. Once away from the language, however, the Jewish roots recede into a broader modernist context. His String Quartet No. 2, likewise, uses traditional structures, namely sonata form in the outer movements encasing a slow and lyrical elegy to his late father. The composer's self-described synthesis of art, religion and family in this piece reveals a very personal modernism that makes for more difficult listening -- imagine Bartok spiked with Hebraic modal and metric shifts -- but offers greater emotional rewards as well. [24]
Cohen cites both his experience as a cantor and the western classical tradition (Beethoven, Mahler, and Copland) as equal influences. In a 2002 interview for New Music Box, he said, "in a way what I'm trying to do is have that all come together, perhaps not completely consciously, but just that those are also different sides of me which I want to project into whatever I'm writing." [4]
Cohen's best known work is a "shimmering setting" [25] of Psalm 43.
He is the composer of three operatic works: the 2013 opera Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true story of love in a WWII concentration camp, which Lucid culture described as "…mesmerizingly hypnotic, intricately contrapuntal" music, with moments of "…Bernard Herrmann-esque, shivery terror…". [26] His opera Sarah and Hagar (2008), based on the story from the book of Genesis, and Seed (2011), a one-act opera about love and choices for a post-apocalyptic couple, have been performed in concert form.
Title | Year | Label | Catalog No. | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sea of Reeds: Chamber Music of Gerald Cohen | 2014 | Parma | Contains Variously Blue, Sea of Reeds, Yedid Nefesh, and Grneta Variations | |||||
Gerald Cohen: Generations | 2007 | New World Records | NWCR879 | Contains Trio for viola, cello and piano; Four Songs on Hebrew Texts; String Quartet No. 2; and V'higad'ta L'vincha (And You Shall Tell Your Child) |
Opera
Instrumental Chamber Music
Orchestral Music (including works with voice)
Choral Music
'Solo Vocal Music
Works for Synagogue
Awards
Commissioning grants received
Residencies
Gerald Cohen | |
---|---|
Birth name | Gerald Cohen |
Born | 1960 New York, New York |
Genres | Opera, Choral Music, Orchestra music |
Occupation(s) | Composer, pianist, cantor |
Instrument(s) | Piano, Vocals |
Years active | 1982–present |
Gerald Cohen (born 1960 in New York, NY) is an American composer and cantor. He is currently the cantor at Shaarei Tikvah in Scarsdale, New York and is based in Yonkers. [1] Cohen serves on the faculties of Jewish Theological Seminary [2] and Hebrew Union College. [3] Cohen's compositions are published by Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer/AMP, and Transcontinental Music Publications. [1]
Cohen earned a B.A. in music from Yale University in 1982. [1] Shortly afterwards, he began working as a cantor while attending Columbia University where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (D.M.A.) [1] in composition, with distinction, in 1993. His principal composition teachers were Jack Beeson, Mario Davidovsky, George Edwards, and Andrew Thomas. Jacob Mendelson was Cohen's primary cantorial studies teacher. [4] Cohen's music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles including: the Cassatt String Quartet, [5] Verdehr Trio, [6] Franciscan String Quartet, [7] Chesapeake Chamber Music, [8] Grneta Ensemble, [9] Wave Hill Trio, [10] Bronx Arts Ensemble, [11] and Brooklyn Philharmonic Brass Quintet; [12] by choruses including the New York Virtuoso Singers, [13] Canticum Novum Singers, [14] Syracuse Children's Chorus, [7] St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, [15] Zamir Chorale of Boston, [16] Usdan Center Chorus, [17] the Cantors Assembly of America, [14] HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir, [18] and the Westchester Youth Symphony. [19] Battery Dance Company commissioned his Songs of Tagore [20] which accompanied dance performances on tours throughout India and Eastern Europe.
Cohen's music has been performed by the Borromeo String Quartet, [21] Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, [22] San Diego Symphony, [13] Westchester Philharmonic, [13] Riverside Symphony, [8] Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, New York Concert Singers, Princeton Pro Musica, and many other ensembles and soloists. [23]
Cohen's music reflects his embracing of both Western classical traditions and his Jewish roots. Ken Smith, writing for Gramaphone, says of Cohen's style:
Cohen composes with a strong sense of tradition -- one that embraces Brahms, Bartok and Britten on one hand and his own Jewish heritage on the other. Which side becomes more prominent depends, it seems, on how deeply any particular piece is rooted to text. A cantor himself, Cohen's songs and his Passover Cantata V'higad'ta L'vincha display a linguistic fluidity and a melodic gift that hints at what the Hebrew liturgy might be like today if Britten had changed faiths. Once away from the language, however, the Jewish roots recede into a broader modernist context. His String Quartet No. 2, likewise, uses traditional structures, namely sonata form in the outer movements encasing a slow and lyrical elegy to his late father. The composer's self-described synthesis of art, religion and family in this piece reveals a very personal modernism that makes for more difficult listening -- imagine Bartok spiked with Hebraic modal and metric shifts -- but offers greater emotional rewards as well. [24]
Cohen cites both his experience as a cantor and the western classical tradition (Beethoven, Mahler, and Copland) as equal influences. In a 2002 interview for New Music Box, he said, "in a way what I'm trying to do is have that all come together, perhaps not completely consciously, but just that those are also different sides of me which I want to project into whatever I'm writing." [4]
Cohen's best known work is a "shimmering setting" [25] of Psalm 43.
He is the composer of three operatic works: the 2013 opera Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true story of love in a WWII concentration camp, which Lucid culture described as "…mesmerizingly hypnotic, intricately contrapuntal" music, with moments of "…Bernard Herrmann-esque, shivery terror…". [26] His opera Sarah and Hagar (2008), based on the story from the book of Genesis, and Seed (2011), a one-act opera about love and choices for a post-apocalyptic couple, have been performed in concert form.
Title | Year | Label | Catalog No. | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sea of Reeds: Chamber Music of Gerald Cohen | 2014 | Parma | Contains Variously Blue, Sea of Reeds, Yedid Nefesh, and Grneta Variations | |||||
Gerald Cohen: Generations | 2007 | New World Records | NWCR879 | Contains Trio for viola, cello and piano; Four Songs on Hebrew Texts; String Quartet No. 2; and V'higad'ta L'vincha (And You Shall Tell Your Child) |
Opera
Instrumental Chamber Music
Orchestral Music (including works with voice)
Choral Music
'Solo Vocal Music
Works for Synagogue
Awards
Commissioning grants received
Residencies