Composer Gerald Cohen has been receiving quite a lot of attention lately, and there’s good reason why: His compositions are passionate, dramatic and lyrical. The International Clarinet Association‘s F. Gerrard Erante calls his work “rhythmically vital, virtuosic, and haunting” and Gramophone notes his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift”.
Upcoming Events
Sunday, May 17th: Members of the Grneta Ensemble (Vasko Dukovski, clarinet; Alexandra Joan, piano) will be joined by pianist Jennifer Choi to perform Variously Blue (from Gerald Cohen’s Navona Records release Sea of Reeds). This performance is part of the program “Fireflies” at the Tribeca New Music Festival.
The Cell, New York, 4pm matinee
$25 Adults ($20 Online);
$15 Students & Seniors ($10 Online)
Sunday, May 31st: Excerpts of Cohen’s Opera Steal a Pencil for Me will be performed as part of the concert “Music in Our Time“, a presentation of the American Society for Jewish Music.
Steal a Pencil for Me is based on the wartime lovestory of Holocaust survivors Jaap and Ina Polak, and has received praise from The Jewish Week, Lucid Culture, and WQXR’s Operavore.
Center for Jewish History, New York, 3pm
$18 General Admission; $12 ASJM Members;
$9 Students & Seniors
Sunday, June 14th: L’dor Vador will be performed as part of ChoralFest USA, an celebration of American choral music.
Recently, the International Jewish High School Choir HaZamir premiered Cohen’s L’dor Vador (From Generation to Generation) at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center), which can be seen on YouTube.
Symphony Space, New York, 3pm
Free Admission
Recent News
One of Cohen’s best-known pieces was featured on the BBC series Songs of Praise with a performance of his “Adonai Ro’i” (Psalm 23), lovingly interpreted by acclaimed British tenor Matthew Sandy and
the Blue Coat School Choir.
Cohen’s latest recording Sea of Reeds (Navona Records) has also been getting celebrated. Second Inversion (KING-FM Seattle) featured the CD as “Album of the Week” and interviewed him.
Sea of Reeds has also been given “three cheers” by both Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review and critic James Wegg, and applauded by Sequenza 21, babysue, WRUV, Touching Extremes, and Yale Alumni Magazine. (Listen to a sampler Sea of Reeds on Soundcloud, available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.)
American Public Media’s nationally syndicated Performance Today recently closed their programming block with a stream of Cohen’s Le Poisson Rouge performance, alongside Prokofiev, Brahms, and Chopin.
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