David Cohen - cello
David Cohen has established a reputation as one of the most successful and charismatic young cellists of today. At the age of ten he made his solo debut with the Belgium National Orchestra and since then has performed with many leading orchestras including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre National de Lille, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Suisse Romande Orchestra , the Polish Philharmonic, the Symphonia of Warsaw, NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. He has worked as soloist with some of the world’s most distinguished musicians and conductors including Lord Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Christoph von Dohnányi, Walter Weller, Sir Charles Mackerras and Vladimir Ashkenazy. His debut in Japan performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Ashkenazy in 2008 led to an immediate re-invitation to play Dvořák Concerto in June 2010, a work which he also played the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) later in the month. Future engagements include Lalo with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante with the Chandos Symphony Orchestra, and Rococo with the Kyrgyz State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
He has won more than 25 International prizes and awards, including first prize at the Audi International Competition in 1995 and the International Cello Competition in Douai. He has also received awards from, amongst others, the Ian Fleming Charitable Trust for "extremely talented musicians," Fondation pour la Vocation (1999), Hattori Foundation for Young Musicians and the Fondation SPES (1999), the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund winner in both 2000 and 2001 and The Berlotti Buitoni Fellowship Award in 2004.
After graduating from the Yehudi Menuhin School, he continued his studies at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where for six years he was a student of Oleg Kogan. He won the prestigious Gold Medal and in 2002 he became the Royal Philharmonic Society of Belgium “Rising Star”, performing recitals in some of the most famous venues across the Globe including Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He is a passionate chamber musician performing regularly in major festivals with the finest musicians in Europe. He is regularly invited to international cello and chamber music festivals such as Kronberg, Manchester, Cambridge, Beauvais, Bordeaux, Gstaad and West Cork. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Melchior Ensemble, in Residence at Peterhouse in Cambridge.
In March 2001 David Cohen was appointed Principal Cello of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London – the youngest Philharmonia Principal ever – a position which he held until this year.
He has often recorded for Classic FM, Cypres-Records and the London Philharmonic Orchestra Label and broadcasts include the Lutoslawski Cello Concerto with the Philharmonia and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Seven Last Words for Cello, Bayan and Strings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Other recording projects include the complete works for cello and orchestra by Schnittke with the Philharmonia, a solo cello recording with Orchid Classics and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Maestro Dohnányi.
David Cohen plays on a magnificent Domenico Montagnana cello c.1735 thanks to the kindness and tremendous generosity of Mrs Patricia Morton and help from the Razumovsky Trust. He is the featured artist at the Montagnana Cello Festival in Italy this autumn performing concerti and making his conducting debut.