Diana Cohen, Violin

Biography

Praised for her "incredible flair, maturity and insight," violinist Diana Cohen was appointed concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony in 2007. She has also appeared as soloist and served as concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Red {an orchestra}, and Iris Orchestra, and as guest concertmaster with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony. She has also been soloist with the Hilton Head and Valdosta Symphonies, among others. Currently dividing her time between chamber music, solo performances, and orchestral work, Diana performs regularly in concerts in New York and across the globe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The International Sejong Soloists, The Knights, and as a substitute at the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Cohen was concertmaster of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, principal second of the New York String Orchestra, and has been rotating principal of the Iris Orchestra since its inaugural season.

As a chamber musician, Diana has performed at festivals including Marlboro Music, The Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Giverny (France), The Perlman Chamber Music, Taos, Sarasota, Aspen, Bennington, Gretna, Swannanoa, Fontana, Maui, Dresden and Piccolo Spoleto. Ms. Cohen has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets, and with renowned artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian and Gilbert Kalish. Diana is a founding member of the piano trio, “Terzetto” (www.trioterzetto.com), and also performs frequently with her father, Franklin Cohen, principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Her whole family is musical- her late mother Lynette Diers Cohen was a noted bassoonist, and her brother Alexander is a professional timpanist.

Diana is an honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a student of Donald Weilerstein. She was the recipient of the Jerome Gross Prize in violin and a winner of the Darius Milhaud competition. Diana’s solo and chamber performances have been heard on Cleveland’s WCLV and ETV Radio in Charleston, SC. Many of her performances from the Marlboro Music Festival have been broadcast on New York’s WQXR. She recently recorded Osvoldo Golijov's "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," with her father and other members of the Cleveland Orchestra. This recording will be available this spring.