Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen is rapidly developing a reputation as one of Britain's finest and most versatile young musicians. As a cellist, conductor and keyboardist with wide-ranging interests in solo and chamber music, baroque, classical and contemporary performance, he is in increasing demand for concerts and festivals throughout the UK and Europe.

Jonathan was a former guest principal cellist with the Philharmonia, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in this capacity and has toured as a guest with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. With a specialist interest in period performance, he has been principal cellist of The King’s Consort, has performed as continuo cellist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (including Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2005) and also with the Gabrieli Consort. His Vivaldi Cello Concertos CD with The King’s Consort was released by Hyperion Records in June 2006.

He is also a member of the London Haydn Quartet, which undertakes a busy schedule of concerts performing classical quartets on gut strings. The quartet is regularly invited to perform in the Wigmore Hall London and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and in 2006 has performed at festivals in Lyon, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Paris and Belgrade. They will make their Carnegie Hall début in 2009. Their recent début disc of Haydn's opus 9 string quartets with Hyperion received enormous critical acclaim such as "without doubt one of the all time great Haydn quartet recordings" from Classic FM magazine.

As a conductor, drawing in particular upon his experience in the field of early music, Jonathan Cohen directed 10 performances of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in Theatre Aachen (Autumn 2006). He also was assistant conductor and chorus master to Emmanuelle Haim for a production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Chatelet Theatre Paris (May 2006), and assisted William Christie for productions of Rameau’s Les Paladins (June 2006), and Mozart’s Idomeneo. He has also assisted Haim on Handel’s Tamerlano (Lille Opera House 2004) and Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Lille Opera House 2007), and Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndebourne 2008). Jonathan also conducted performances of Hérold's "Zampa" at the Opéra Comique with Les Arts Florissants this year, to widespread acclaim.

Conducting projects with Les Arts Florissants next year include a tour of Mozart and Haydn symphonies and arias. He assists in Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna for William Christie and Deborah Warner's production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and conducts performances of Purcell's Fairy Queen in The Netherlands and France (Lille's production with Emmanuelle Haim and Le Concert d'Astrée).

Jonathan Cohen plays a cello made by Giuseppe Guarneri (filius Andrea) in Cremona, 1712.

April 2008