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.

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