Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (born 1994)[1] is an American countertenor. He was a winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals, after which he was described as "a complete artist" and "young star" in The New York Times.[2] He has also been described as "extravagantly gifted... poised to redefine what's possible for singers of this distinctive voice type" in the San Francisco Chronicle.[3]

Early life

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nussbaum Cohen grew up singing in the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and HaZamir, a Jewish international youth choir. He was an assistant cantor at East Midwood Jewish Center on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.[4] He attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where he first began vocal studies, and he then attended Princeton University, where he majored in History (with a concentration in Intellectual and Cultural History) and minored in Vocal Performance and Judaic Studies.

Career

Opera

While still a student at Princeton University, Nussbaum Cohen made his European debut at age 20, singing the lead role of Timante in the modern-day revival of Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera, Demofoonte at the Theater an der Wien with Maestro Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco.[1]

He went on to complete his training as a member of the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera in 2016, the Houston Grand Opera Studio for 2017-18 (where he was the first countertenor in the Studio‘s history), and the Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera for 2018-19.

His operatic roles have included:[5][6][7]

Concert

Nussbaum Cohen‘s concert performances include the world premiere performances of Kenneth Fuchs‘ Poems of Life with the Virginia Symphony, led by Maestro JoAnn Falletta, which he then recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. The album went on to win a 2019 GRAMMY Award.

He has performed works such as Bernstein‘s Chichester Psalms (with the Buffalo Philharmonic), Handel‘s Messiah (with the San Francisco Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, and others), Handel‘s Saul and Theodora (with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Maestros Nic McGegan and Richard Egarr), Handel's Jephtha (with Music of the Baroque and Dame Jane Glover), Bach's Christmas Oratorio (with the Portland Baroque Orchestra), and many others.[8][9]

Awards

In 2016-17, as well as being awarded the Grand Prize of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Nussbaum Cohen was First Prize winner in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition and recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He was First Prize Winner and Audience Choice Award recipient at the 2018 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and he was Third Prize Winner in the 2019 edition of Placido Domingo’s Operalia. He was also winner of a 2019 William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation Award, a 2022 Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and a 2023 George and Nora London Foundation Award.

His first commercial recording - the world premiere recording of Kenneth Fuchs' Poems of Life with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta - won a 2019 GRAMMY Award in the Best Classical Compendium category. [10]

During his senior year at Princeton University, he became the first singer in a decade to win the Princeton University Concerto Competition. Upon graduating in 2015, he was awarded the Isidore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts, granted each year to the student of greatest promise in the performance of classical music.[11]

Recordings

Nussbaum Cohen's discography includes the following:

Personal life

Nussbaum Cohen currently resides in Northern California with his wife Abbi. He serves as Western Region Soloist Representative on the board of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents America's operatic, dance, and choral artists.[13]

References
  1. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 21". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  2. Woolfe, Zachary (20 March 2017). "Met Opera Auditions Yield a Young Star: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  3. "Young Countertenor Triumphs in Philharmonia Baroque's Saul". Sfchronicle.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  4. "(Counter) Tenor of the Times: From Bima To Opera Stage". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  5. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen". www.schmopera.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  6. "Agrippina". www.arslyricahouston.org. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  7. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen". www.AryehNussbaumCohen.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  8. Friderike Heuer (18 December 2018). "Bach for Christmas: Jubilant". www.orartswatch.org. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  9. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (counter-tenor)". bach-cantatas.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  10. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen". www.laphil.com. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  11. "Biography". www.AryehNussbaumCohen.com. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  12. "Media". www.AryehNussbaumCohen.com. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  13. "Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen | Countertenor | About". Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen | Countertenor | Home. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
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