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Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen

Countertenor

  • American countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen is rapidly earning acclaim for his "astonishingly beautiful" and "golden-toned" voice (The Guardian) and has been hailed as a "young star" in the New York Times.

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  • The 2024/25 season sees Nussbaum Cohen make several highly anticipated debuts, including Ismaël in the world premiere of Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek’s adaptation of Fanny and Alexander at La Monnaie de Munt and his Salzburg Festival debut as Olga in Eötvös’ Three Sisters. On the concert platform, Nussbaum Cohen makes his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut in the Mozart's Coronation Mass, performs Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall and gives performances with Ars Lyrica Houston. This season also sees the release of Nussbaum Cohen’s solo album, Uncharted, on AVIE Records, accompanied by a North American recital tour with pianist John Churchwell with appearances at Vocal Arts DC, Mairs Concert Hall, Dacamera Houston and Carnegie Hall.

    Highlights of Nussbaum Cohen's recent seasons include his acclaimed return to Glyndebourne as the title role in Sir David McVicar’s production of Giulio Cesare, his Metropolitan Opera debut as Rosencrantz in the U.S. premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet, Endimione in Cavalli’s La Calisto for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Angel/The Boy in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sesto Giulio Cesare for Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Christian Spuck’s Monteverdi for Opernhaus Zurich, David Saul for Komische Oper Berlin and Houston Grand Opera, Athamas Semele for Glyndebourne, Oberon Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Adelaide Festival and Medoro Orlando for San Francisco Opera.

    A prolific concert artist, Nussbaum Cohen has sung Unolfo Rodelinda with the English Concert cond. Bicket, Didymus Theodora with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra cond. Egarr, Hamor Jephtha with Music of the Baroque cond. Glover and the title role Giulio Cesare with the Moscow Philharmonic. Elsewhere Nussbaum Cohen has performed Kenneth Fuchs’ Poems of Life with the London Symphony Orchestra, Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic cond. Gaffigan, the Chichester Psalms with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Carmina Burana with the Indianapolis Symphony and his debut with Apollo’s Fire for Bach’s Easter Oratorio.


    A keen recording artist, his recording of Kenneth Fuchs’ Poems of Life with JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra won a GRAMMY® Award. Elsewhere, Nussbaum Cohen’s discography includes a 2019 solo release of Gluck, Handel, and Vivaldi with Jeffrey Thomas and the American Bach Soloists, and the 2023 release of Bach’s St. John Passion with the Cantata Collective led by Nicholas McGegan, his performance described by Early Music America as a "voice of arresting beauty, singing with the utmost expressiveness and artistry."


    A graduate of Princeton University with degrees in history, vocal performance, and Judaic studies, Nussbaum Cohen continued his training as the first countertenor in the Houston Grand Opera Studio and as a participant in San Francisco Opera’s Merola and Adler Fellowship Programs. Nussbaum Cohen is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the 2017 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, top prizes in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum and the Dallas Opera Guild Competitions, a George and Nora London Foundation Award, the Richard Tucker Study Grant and Career Grant, and top prize in the 2024 Gerda Lissner Foundation’s International Vocal Competition.

    2024/25 season / 575 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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Operatic-Oratorio Repertoire List

Benjamin
Written on Skin – First Angel/Boy


Britten
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Oberon


Cavalli
Gli Amori di Apollo e Dafne – Cefalo
La Calisto – Endimione


Dean
Hamlet – Rosenkrantz


Dove
Flight – Refugee
Tobias and the Angel – Raphael


Eötvös
Tri Sestri – Olga


Glass
Akhnaten – Akhnaten
The Juniper Tree – Son


Gluck
Demofoonte – Timante
Orfeo ed Euridice – Orfeo
Orphée et Eurydice – Orphée


Handel
Agrippina – Ottone
Ariodante – Polinesso
Giulio Cesare – Cesare, Sesto
Jephtha – Hamor
Orlando – Orlando, Medoro
Ottone – Ottone
Rinaldo – Rinaldo, Goffredo
Rodelinda – Bertarido
Saul – David
Semele – Athamas
Siroe – Siroe
Solomon – Solomon
Theodora – Didymus


Karlsson
Fanny and Alexander – Ismael Retzinsky


Monteverdi
L’incoronazione di Poppea – Ottone


Reimann
Lear – Edgar


J. Strauss
Die Fledermaus – Prince Orlofsky


R. Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos – Der Komponist


Vivaldi
Bajazet – Tamerlano

Symphonic Repertoire List

Bach
Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein
Bekennen will ich seinen Namen
Geist und Seele wird verwirret
Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde
Gott soll allein mein Herze haben
Hercules am Scheidewege
Ich habe genug
Johannes-Passion
Komm du süsse Todesstunde
Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl
Mass in B minor
Magnificat
Matthäus-Passion
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort
Oster Oratorium
Tönet, ihr Pauken
Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!
Weihnachtsoratorium
Widerstehe doch der Sünde


Berlioz
Les nuits d’été


Bernstein
Chichester Psalms


Brahms
Alto Rhapsody


Britten
Spring Symphony


Bruckner
Mass No. 1 in D minor


Buxtehude
Jubilate Deo


Duruflé
Requiem


Dvořák
Stabat Mater


Elgar
The Dream of Gerontius
Sea Pictures


Felsted
Jonah


Fuchs
Poems of Life


Handel
Belshazzar
Brockes-Passion
The Choice of Hercules
Deborah
Esther
Israel in Egypt
Jephtha
Joseph and his Brethren
Joshua
Judas Maccabeus
Messiah
Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne
Samson
Saul
Semele
Solomon
Susanna
Theodora
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno


Haydn
Mass No. 11 in D minor, “Nelson Mass”


Korngold
Abschiedslieder


Lieberson
Neruda Songs


Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Rückert Lieder


Mendelssohn
Elijah


Mozart
Mass in C minor, “Waisenhaus”
Mass in C Major, “Coronation”
Mass in C Major, “Solemnis”
Requiem


Orff
Carmina Burana


Pergolesi
Salve Regina in F minor
Stabat Mater


Purcell
Come Ye Sons of Art
Dido and Aeneas
King Arthur
The Fairy Queen


Ravel
Shéhérazade


Rossini
Stabat Mater
Petite messe solennelle


Tippett
A Child of Our Time


Vivaldi
Cessate, omai cessate
Clarae stellae, scintillate
Gloria in D Major
Juditha Triumphans
Magnificat in g minor
Nisi Dominus
Salve Regina
Stabat Mater

“An astonishing immersive experience... In the end... it is however Alexander’s very dark guardian angel Ismaël Retzinsky, with mystical powers, who steals the show: in a dialogue in act two which ends in flames, the American countertenor Aryeh Nusbaum Cohen propels deep into the depths of souls with his extraordinary voice, at once strong and gentle, consoling and frightening...”

L'Écho, December 2024

"Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen’s powerful countertenor...ably filled the role of Julius Caesar. He made the vocal acrobatics of the hero’s arias seem effortless...magical.”

National World, June 2024

"Nussbaum Cohen’s vocal agility is jaw-dropping."

The Stage, June 2024

Intermusica represents Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in Europe

Natasha Worsley
Associate Director, Vocal & Opera
+44 (0) 7870 979 794
nworsley@intermusica.com

Iago Campello
Associate Artist Manager, Vocal & Opera
+44 7548 317398
icampello@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Contralto

Avery Amereau

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam