David Cohen

I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4David Cohen's Biography:The Cellist David Cohen was born in Belgium in 1980.At the age of 11 He won First Prize in both the Young Soloist and Crédit Communal competitions in Belgium. In 1993 he took First Prize with Distinction in the Junior category of the International Competition inWathrelos, France, and in 1995 won First Prize (again with Distinction) in the Senior category. At the age of 12 he was awarded the First Prize of the Brussels Royal Conservatoire, in the class of Edmond Baert. In 1994 David Cohen came to England to begin his studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School, which he attended for four years supported by the Menuhin Foundation. During this period he won the UK’s Audi International Competition and the Douai (France) International Cello Competition (1995), and the Grand Prix of the ‘Tenuto’National Competition in Belgium. He subsequently entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Oleg Kogan on a four-year scholarship. Following in the footsteps of Jacqueline du Pré, he was awarded the Guildhall Scool of Music and Drama’s Gold Medal.Other awards and prizes at this time included the Guilhermina Suggia Gift for the Cello (1996 and 1999), an Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Award for ‘extremely talented musicians’ (1999) and Belgium’s Fondation pour la Vocation, Award from the City of Tournai and Fondation SPES Award (all 1999).In 1997 David Cohen participated in a masterclass with Mstislav Rostropovich. As a result of hearing David play, Rostropovich immediately invited him to play in his cello sextet, and to perform on a tour of Germany with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.David Cohen has twice been the recipient of a Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Award (2000 and 2001). In 2000 he won the Patrick F Liechti Prize of the SUISA Foundation for Music in Switzerland. He was nominated ‘Rising Star’ for the 2002/03 Season by the Royal Philharmonic Society, performing in such prestigious venues as the Carnegie Hall, New York and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and he received an award from the Solti Foundation in 2003.David Cohen’s career has brought him engagements with the Flemish Orchestra of Brussels, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege, Orchestre Symphonique de la VRT, the Beethoven Akademie, Orchestre National de Lille, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra Symphonique de Grenoble, Polish Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovie. In 2003 he performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at Southbank Centre in the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras.David Cohen is regularly invited to international cello festivals such as those of Kronberg (Germany), Manchester and Cambridge (UK), Beauvais (France) and the Gstaad Festival (Switzerland).He has recorded with Forlane, Classic FM, Cypres-Records and the LPO Label.In April 2001 David was the youngest-ever cellist to be appointed Principal of the Philharmonia Orchestra.David Cohen plays on a magnificient Venetian cello by Domenico Montagnana (c.1735), thanks to the wonderful generosity of Mrs Pat Morton and the help of the Razumovsky Trust.David Cohen, one of themost talented young cellists I know. He was a student atmy School for some years, and is altogether a remarkable young man, a remarkable performer and already an outstanding cellist.’ Lord Menuhin (December 1998)www.davidcohen.be