Daniel Cohen

Conductor

GMD Staatstheater Darmstadt (since 2018/19)
"If the conductor likes the orchestra, and vice versa, and both are interested in trying something together, then we have it: the process of becoming more familiar with each other, the more we widen our world of sound."
Daniel Cohen, January 2020
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Biography

Daniel Cohen has been General Music Director of the Staatstheater Darmstadt since 2018/2019. From 2004 to 2014 he was Music Director of the Jersey Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Gropius Ensemble, creating projects which explored the threshold between music and theater.

Cohen maintains continuous relationships to the major Berlin opera houses - in 2015/2016 he was Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he conducted numerous performances including „Così fan tutte“, „Don Giovanni“, and „La Traviata“ and has been a regular guest ever since. At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden he made his debut in 2016/17 with Stravinsky’s „Le sacre du printemps“ and returned for performances including „Il barbiere di Siviglia“ as well as a revival of the production „Turn of the screw“ by Benjamin Britten. Further invitations lead him to the Canadian Opera Company with David Alden, the Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv, the Teatro Massimo and to the Norske Opera Oslo (Figaro, 2019).

In the summer of 2019 Daniel Cohen made his debut at the Bregenz Festival conducting the Wiener Symphoniker in a production of Massenet’s „Don Quichotte“ directed by Mariame Clément. The acclaimed production, released on DVD and broadcast by the BBC, was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize 2020 for „Best Opera Production“. In 2021 he returned to the festival conducting „Rigoletto”, in 2022 he took over with great success the rehearsal period and concert of the newly formed „Bregenz Festival Orchestra Academy” in collaboration with the Wiener Symphoniker.
„Clarity and accuracy. There are difficult productions in which you may not always hear the orchestra, so the cue becomes crucial. I also appreciate conductors who really breathe with me in long phrases. Daniel Cohen, who directs The Turn of the Screw, is a great example of this.”Maria Bengtsson in an interview with VAN Magazin, April 2018
In the symphonic domain, he has conducted among others the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Münchener Symphoniker, the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the Sinfonieorchester Basel. One focus of his repertoire is contemporary music: from 2011 to 2013 he was a participant of the „Lucerne Festival Academy Composer Project“, led by Pierre Boulez.

His first seasons in Darmstadt he dedicates next to the classic repertoire like Mahler, Beethoven and Mozart also to the (Darmstädter) Moderne, including Nono, Boulez and Varèse. His opera projects have so far included such productions as „Un Ballo in Maschera” „Fidelio“, „Lohengrin“, „La bohème“, „Rusalka“, Lilli Boulanger’s „Faust and Hélène (directed by Mariame Clément) as well as „Le Sacre du printemps“ with the Hessische Staatsballett. Cohen was also instrumental in the founding of the „Barockfest Darmstadt” which this season will include such artists as Avi Avital, Isabelle Faust, Sonia Prina and Sergio Azzollini and will focus on the tradition of Baroque in Darmstadt and the Hofkapelle.

In 2022/23 Daniel Cohen’s guest appearances include a return to the Norwegian Opera, a world premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, concerts with the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Orchestra della Toscana, Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester, the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, the Württembergische Philharmonie as well as the Boulez Ensemble Berlin and a tour with the Camerata Salzburg before he returns to the Bregenz Festival Orchestra Academy in August. At the Staatstheater Darmstadt highlights will include new productions of Mozart’s „Don Giovanni” and Berg’s „Lulu” as well as symphony concerts.

After his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Daniel Cohen was a long-term member of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra as a violinist, where he also assisted Daniel Barenboim with many concerts and recordings. In 2013/14 he was „Dudamel Fellow“ at the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, one year later he was „Conducting Fellow“ at the Tanglewood Music Festival.


2022/2023

Contact: Arnold Simmenauer, Katja Hippler
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.
Contacts: Arnold Simmenauer (Director), Katja Hippler

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Programme

2024 / 2025

You’ll find the current programs in the IMPRESARIUM of the 24/25 season

Schedule

15.06.2023
19:30 Uhr
DE / Berlin - Pierre Boulez Saal
Daniel Cohen, Boulez Ensemble
09.07.2023
11:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
10.07.2023
20:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
29.07.2023
19:00 Uhr
CH / Klosters - Arena Klosters
Daniel Cohen, Camerata Salzburg, Julie Fuchs
29.07.2023
19:00 Uhr
DE / Klosters - Arena Klosters
Daniel Cohen, Camerata Salzburg, Julie Fuchs
10.09.2023
11:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
11.09.2023
20:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
24.09.2023
DE / Premiere Hoffmann - Staatstheater Darmstadt Großes Haus
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
22.10.2023
11:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
22.10.2023
11:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Sitkovetsky Trio, Staatskapelle Darmstadt, Daniel Cohen
23.10.2023
20:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Daniel Cohen, Staatsorchester Darmstadt
23.10.2023
20:00 Uhr
DE / Darmstadt - Staatstheater Darmstadt
Sitkovetsky Trio, Staatskapelle Darmstadt, Daniel Cohen

Videos

European Philharmonic of Switzerland - EPOS
Daniel Cohen, Helsinki Philharmonic Attahir Swati'l Zaman
I Know a Bank, A Midsummer Night's Dream - Zazzo / Cohen / Teatro Massimo

Contact

Arnold Simmenauer (Director)
t: +49 (0)30 414 781 724
f: +49 (0)30 414 781 713
Katja Hippler
t: +49 (0)30 414 781 730
f: +49 (0)30 414 781 713