“Witty and well-crafted music.” “Cohn’s orchestral music (Concertos & Tone Poems)
is well structured, warmly tonal and rich in grace and wit” ~ GRAMOPHONE“
is well structured, warmly tonal and rich in grace and wit” ~ GRAMOPHONE“
JAMES COHN was born in 1928 in Newark, New Jersey and died on June 12th, 2021. He attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York City graduating with two degrees in Composition. His Principal Instructor was Bernard Wagenaar. He has written solo, chamber, choral and orchestral works, and his catalog includes 4 string quartets, 6 piano sonatas and 9 symphonies. Some have won awards, including a Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Prize for his Symphony No. 2 (premiered in Brussels) and an A.I.D.E.M. prize for his Symphony No. 4 (premiered in Florence, Italy). Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony introduced the composer’s Symphony No. 3 and “Variations on The Wayfaring Stranger", and his opera The Fall of the City won an Ohio University Opera Award. He has had performances at Lincoln Center in New York, at the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and world-wide use of his music commissioned for television and cinema.
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Mr. Cohn celebrated his 93rd birthday on February 12th, 2021. At the last part of his life, he seemed to have been in “Flute” Mode. Of the last 3 commissions, all involved the Flute. The first was for A Trio for Palisades Virtuosi, the second for Jerene Weitman who commissioned a work for her Ensemble – Flutissimo – It is entitled “Tick-Tock Fantasy for 3 Flutes and Piano.” This work was completed and when it is deemed safe and Coronavirus will allow concerts again, the Sonata will be premiered. Mr. Cohn’s last commission involving Flute was from Carla Auld, who commissioned a Concertino for Flute & String Orchestra. This work, when completed, will be premiered with an orchestra.
Prior commissioned works, now all completed, can be seen in connection with Mr. Cohn’s Biography and Works from the Press. – Attached… Mr. Cohn was honored to have been profiled in the April 2019 issue of the B’nai B’rith International Magazine. Mr. Cohn’s music is available on the XLNT Music label, The Naxos American Classics label and the MSR Music Classics label. |
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James Cohn’s music has been recorded for:
His latest CD is World Premiere recordings of Symphonies 3, 4 and 8 and the Miniatures for Orchestra, performed by Kirk Trevor and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra: http://www.msrcd.com/catalog/cd/MS1435. He was a resident of Douglaston, Queens, New York. |