Isidore Cohen

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Isidore Cohen (born December 16, 1922 in Brooklyn , New York , † June 23, 2005 in Bronx , New York) was an American chamber musician and violinist . He was a member of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio .

Life

Cohen began studying the violin at the age of six and graduated from Manhattan High School of Music and Art , although he initially wanted to be a doctor. His pre-medical studies at Brooklyn College were interrupted by his military service in Europe for the US Army during World War II. There he decided to touch people's lives through music and became a musician.

After leaving the military, he studied with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School . Galamian was concerned about accepting a 24-year-old student but wanted to help a war veteran. At this point his musical career began to blossom, and he even caught the composer's attention with his performance of Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat . He was famous for his attention to modern composers, and most of all he worked closely with John Cage on some pieces .

In the 1950s he served as concertmaster of the orchestras at the Casal festivals in France and Puerto Rico , and also in several ensembles in New York , including the Columbia Symphony Orchestra . He was frequently concertmaster on Leonard Bernstein's television program Young People's Concerts . His performance of Le sacre du printemps as concertmaster under Stravinsky's direction is on the Voyager Golden Record . In 1952, Alexander Schneider invited Cohen to join his quartet as second violinist. While Cohen was employed, the Schneider Quartet recorded the first complete collection of Joseph Haydn's string quartets .

From 1958 Cohen was second violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, which he remained for almost a decade. As a member of the Quartet, Cohen served on the Juilliard faculty from 1958 to 1966.

In 1968, after Daniel Guilet resigned, he was persuaded by the pianist Menahem Pressler and the cellist Bernard Greenhouse to join the Beaux Arts Trio . In the mid-1970s they were the best-known and busiest piano trio in the world . During Cohen's time in the trio, dozens of recordings were made, including all the piano trios by Ludwig van Beethoven , Haydn , Mozart , Dvořák, Brahms as well as works by Chopin , Tchaikovsky , Rachmaninov , Charles Ives and Dmitri Shostakovich . After 23 years he was replaced by Ida Kavafian .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Isidore Cohen, Renowned Chamber Musician, Dies at 82. The Juilliard School , September 2005, archived from the original on January 8, 2009 ; accessed on July 22, 2016 (English).
  2. ^ Warner Classics: Artist Biography . Warner Classics. 2006. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Isidore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American violinist
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 2005
Place of death Bronx , New York