abril 24, 2007
ROBERT COHEN- LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD
"As a matter of interest, Mr Cohen was 5 times the recipient of the Suggia Award for potential soloists under the age of 21 in London from the age of 8-12. This gave him financial assistance towards his cello studies. It is of course many year since then, but his gratitude and admiration of Guilhermina Suggia in this and many other forms remains. Mr Cohen is very interested to hear of the activities and development of the Guilhermina Suggia Association and looks forward to hearing from you again.
With many thanks and kind regards
Carmen Pecqueur"
Following his Royal Festival Hall debut at the age of 12, Robert Cohen subsequently achieved international recognition whilst still a teenager with a recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto which earned a silver disc and placed him at the forefront of his musical generation. He has gone on to consolidate an impressive discography ranging from solo Bach (and the Schubert Quintet with the Amadeus on Deutsche Grammophon) to a recent release of the HK Gruber Cello Concerto under the direction of the composer.
The creative give-and-take of the concert hall remains Cohen’s first love however. As a busy performing artist his career takes him to the USA, Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and the UK. He has performed with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Maris Jansons, Riccardo Muti and Sir Simon Rattle, and he retains a lively enthusiasm for chamber music (which provides the bedrock of the Charleston Manor Festival which he has directed since 1989).
Cohen’s passionate and articulate views on the art of learning, performing and communicating music have stimulated illuminating masterclasses, and have been widely broadcast and published. Since 1999 he has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Robert Cohen is also Professor of Advanced Cello at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.
As soloist, conductor and teacher Robert Cohen’s music-making takes him all over the world; holding, as ‘The Guardian’ observed, audiences “in the palm of his hand”.
He plays the ‘Ex Roser’ cello by David Tecchler. Rome 1723.