Praised for her “incredible flair, maturity and insight,” violinist Diana Cohen leads a multi-faceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician, soloist, and arts administrator. Appointed concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012, she previously served as concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra while maintaining an active freelance career in New York City. She has held the same position with Charleston Symphony (with which she performed numerous works as soloist), The National Repertory Orchestra, Iris Orchestra and Red {an orchestra}, and has been guest concertmaster with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Phoenix Symphony.
Cohen has performed regularly in concerts in New York and across the globe with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The International Sejong Soloists, The Knights, and as a substitute at the New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, National Repertory Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony, Valdosta Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony and Red {an orchestra}. She was concertmaster of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, principal second of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and has been rotating principal of the Iris Orchestra since its inception. Cohen’s solo recital on the Dame Myra Hess Series was heard live on Chicago public radio.
As a founding member of the piano trio Trio Terzetto, Cohen has toured and recorded in cities across the United States and Canada. Trio Terzetto has been presented on chamber music series in cities including New York, Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Memphis, Charleston, Lansing, Detroit, Augusta, Charlotte, South Bend, and Asheville. They recently made their solo debut with the Lansing Symphony, performing Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto.” Trio Terzetto is committed to outreach, and often organizes these projects around their performances
A passionate chamber musician, Cohen has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, The Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, The Chamber Music Festival of Giverny, France, The Perlman Chamber Music Program, Aspen and Piccolo Spoleto as well as festivals in Maui, Dresden, Bennington, Saugatuck, Martha’s Vineyard and Gretna. She has also been a participant in The American String Project. Cohen has appeared in chamber concerts with members of the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall and has performed on faculty concerts at the Cleveland Institute of Music. ohen has regularly collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Cleveland, Miro and Parker Quartets, as well as with renowned artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, Garrick Ohlsson and many others. She has also played regularly with her family; Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinetist Franklin Cohen, Alexander Cohen, principal timpanist of the Calgary Philharmonic, and her late mother, bassoonist Lynette Diers Cohen. Works have been commissioned for the Cohen family quartet. Cohen and her father released a CD of Osvoldo Golijov’s “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” for clarinet and string quartet.
Cohen is Executive and Co-Artistic Director of ChamberFest Cleveland (chamberfestcleveland.com), which features the world’s most sought-after chamber musicians, and has partnered with several of the most esteemed organizations in Cleveland.
Cohen is an honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was the recipient of the 2000 Jerome Gross Prize in violin and a winner of the Darius Milhaud competition. Her principal teachers were Donald Weilerstein, William Preucil and Paul Kantor and Joel Smirnoff.
Her solo and chamber performances have been heard on radio stations across the country. Many of her performances from the Marlboro Music Festival have been broadcast on New York’s WQXR. She can also be heard on recordings with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to her performance career, Cohen is a devoted teacher. Many of her students have won national awards. She has worked extensively in public schools and has served on the preparatory chamber music faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Diana Cohen has a multifaceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician and soloist. She is Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic, and founder and Artistic Director of acclaimed music festival ChamberFest Cleveland. As soloist, she has appeared with numerous orchestras, including Holland Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Lansing, and Grand Rapids, among others. As a chamber musician, she has performed at some of the most prestigious festivals including Marlboro Music Festival and Ravinia Festival, and collaborated with renowned artists including Garrick Ohlsson, Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Miro, Cleveland, and Parker Quartets.
Cohen has toured and recorded with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and performed with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Sejong Soloists, The Knights, Cleveland Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic.
Cohen lives in Calgary with her husband and baby, Noa Lynette, who loves being danced to music. As a result of the pandemic, Cohen and her husband created a lauded concert series in their front yard, Garden Concerts YYC, performing weekly concerts to hundreds of music lovers from around Calgary. To be added to their mailing list, email [email protected].