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Michael Cohen - Composer
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Compositions

  • Theater/Opera
  • chamber
  • choral
  • Solo Piano
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Theater/Opera

Das Chicago Song

Madeline Kahn
Written for comedian, actress, and singer, Madeline Kahn, and performed for her Broadway debut in New Faces of 1968.  In 1973 Madeline sang "Das Chicago Song" for her Blazing Saddles audition with film producer Mel Brookes.

Scored for:  voice and piano
Lyrics:  Tony Geiss

Premiere: 1966.  Upstairs at the Downstairs, New York NY
More Info

Yours, Anne

Poster from a performance of Yours, Anne in Manchester, England
Yours, Anne, a musical based on the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl​, has been performed in dozens of locations throughout the world, including the United States, Canada, England, Belgium, Holland, Brazil, and Japan.

Libretto  Enid Futterman

Premiere: October 10, 1985.  Playhouse 91, New York NY
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I Am Anne Frank

Picture
I Am Anne Frank is based on the original theatrical production of Yours, Anne, and the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Libretto:  Enid Futterman

Premiere: October 28, 1996.  The Spirit of Anne Frank Awards, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York NY
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Rappaccini's Daughter

Playbill cover from the Fourth Annual O'Neill Composer/Librettist Conference
Rappaccini's Daughter, an opera based on the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was developed at the Eugene O’Neill Center and later at the Minnesota Opera.  It was a finalist in the New York City Opera Competition.

Libretto:  Linsey Abrams

Premiere:  August, 12 1981. O'Neill Theater Center, Waterford CT
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Chamber

String Quartet 1959

​Duration: 18 minutes
Scored for:  string quartet

​World Premiere: April 14, 1959
Brandeis University String Quartet
Robert Koff (violin), Giora Bernstein (violin), Uri Pianka (viola), Madeline Foley (cello)

Fantasy No. 1

​Duration: 24 minutes
Scored for:  flute, piano, string quartet
​
​World Premiere: 1987 Merkin Hall, New York NY
Renee Siebert (flute), David Oei (piano), Richard Sortomme (violin), Carol Webb (violin), Rebecca Young (viola), Warren Lash (cello)

​Commissioned by Richard Sortomme and For the Love of Music

Fantasy No. 2

​Duration: 14 minutes
Scored for:  flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, string quartet
​
​World Premiere:  April 6, 1989. WQXR Radio "On the Air"

Commissioned by Marti Sweet and Music Amici
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Fantasy No. 3

​Duration: 17 minutes
Scored for:  flute, piano, french horn, string quartet
​
​World Premiere:  March 1, 1993. St. Paul's Chapel, New York NY
Renee Siebert (flute), David Oei (piano), Sharon Moe, (french horn), Richard Sortomme (violin), Carol Webb (violin), Rebecca Young (viola),  Semyon Fridman (cello)

Commissioned by Richard Sortomme and For the Love of Music

A Song for Silenced Voices

 (Recitative and Aria)
Duration:  10 minutes
Scored for:  cello, piano

​
​World Premiere: 
​ February 27, 1995.  WQXR Radio   
Commissioned by Concert Artists Guild  and Semyon Fridman (cello)

November 30, 1997.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
Steven Honigberg (cello), Brian Zeger (piano)


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I Remember

​​Based on The Diary of Anne Frank

Duration: 24 minutes
Scored for:  flute, cello, harp, mezzo-soprano
​
World Premiere: ​ February 4, 1996.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC

Commissioned by Lisa Hansen and Serenata
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To Be A Child

​Duration:  7:30 minutes
Scored for:  flute, cello, harp, mezzo-soprano
​
​World Premiere:  August 11, 1996.  Aaron Copland Heritage Society 
Barbara Diesel (flute), Eliot Bailen (cello), Wendy Lucas (harp), Maura Molloy (mezzo-soprano)

Commissioned by Wendy Lucas and Elyrica

Brass Quintet

​Duration:  9 minutes
Scored for:  Two Trumpets, French Horn, Trombone, and Tuba
​
​World Premiere:  April 1999. Aspen CO

New York Premiere: November 7, 1999
Canadian Premiere: February 3, 2013. University of British Columbia
​ 
Commissioned by The Manhattan Brass Quintet

Publisher:  Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
Available for purchase from Hal Leonard Music

Monday Morning

​Duration:  8 minutes
Scored for:  violin, cello, piano
​
​World Premiere:  June 11, 1999. Landon Gallery, New York 
Kristina Cooper (cello), Laura Frautschi (violin), John Novacek (piano)

Commissioned by Michelle DiBucci

Recordings:  MOTO ETERNO, Navona Records (#nv6341), 2021


Publisher:  Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
Available for purchase from Hal Leonard Music

Dialogues

​​Duration:  21 minutes
Scored for:  flute, cello, piano

​World Premiere:  Hitchcock Presbyterian Church, Scarsdale NY
Lisa Hansen (flute), Steven Honigberg (cello), Christopher Lewis (piano)

Commissioned for A Concert for Reflection

Recordings:  I Remember, Newport Classics (NPD 85656), 1999

Too Far Away

Based on an Aria from “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

Scored for:  flute, oboe, piano
World Premiere: ​ March 2, 2000

Commissioned by Carla Moe and Matt Sullivan

Boy on the Run

​Text by Ilsa Gilbert

Scored for:  tenor, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano

​World Premiere:  March 22, 2000.  Christ and St Stephen’s Church, New York NY


 Commissioned by Mimi Stern-Wolfe

Two Songs on Texts of Edna St. Vincent Millay

​I: Time Does Not Bring Relief
​II. Exiled

Duration:  15 minutes
Scored for:  soprano, piano | soprano, flute, harp

​World Premiere: July 19, 2002.  Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Bowdoin ME 

Amy Burton (soprano), J.J. Penna (piano)
More Info

From the Wall

​​​Based on anonymous text found on the wall of a World War II Jewish safehouse.

Duration:  7 minutes
Scored for:  flute, cello, piano, mezzo-soprano
​
​World Premiere:  November 11, 2005.  Vancouver BC 

Brenda Fedoruk (flute), Sarah Fryer (mezzo-soprano), Aleksander Szram (piano), Ariel Barnes (cello)
More Info

Two Songs on Texts of Ilsa Gilbert

I. Life on Loan
II. Heard the News

Scored for:  soprano, piano
​
​World Premiere:  April 24, 2005.  St. Marks Church-In-The-Bowery, New York  NY
Tiffany DuMouchelle (soprano), Janet E. Hopkins (soprano), Mimi stern-Wolf (piano)

Commissioned by Mimi Stern-Wolfe

Aria for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harp

Scored for:  flute, oboe, cello, harp
​
​World Premiere:  March 14, 2009.  St Paul's Episcopal Church, Cleveland OH
Performed by Panorámicos
Washington State Premiere:  July 11, 2010.  2010 Bellingham Festival of Music
Christina Smith (flute), Joseph Robinson (oboe), Rita Costanzi (harp), Steven Thomas (cello)  

Commissioned Mary Kay Robinson 

Fantasie for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord

Scored for:  flute, oboe, cello, harpsichord
​
World Premiere: ​ June 5, 2011.  St. Marks Church-In-The-Bowery​, New York  NY

Performed by The Queen’s Chamber Band

Commissioned by Elaine Comparone for the Queen's Chamber Band

Scene and Aria, "Just A Little Sky Away"

From Rappaccini's Daughter

Scored for:  flute, harp, piano, soprano
​
World Premiere: ​ March 4, 2013.  Enslow Hall Kean University, NJ
More Info

Serenata

Scored for:  oboe, harp
​
World Premiere: ​ 2017. FEMUSC Festival, Brazil
​Rita Costanzi (harp), Alex Klein (oboe)

Choral

The Ballad of the Lion and the Lamb

A modern carol

Scored for:
  mixed chorus (SATB) and piano

​Lyrics:  Nancy Sutton

Seeds of Peace

Scored for:  choir, piano

Text:  Janet Wallach

World Premiere: July 11, 2003. Seeds of Peace Camp, Otisfield ME

The Gathering Place

Scored for:  choir (acapella)

Text: Kenneth G. Mills

God's World

Scored for:  soprano, SATB chorus |  mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus

​World Premiere:  November 11, 2006.  St. Helen's Church, Vancouver BC
Sarah Fryer (soloist)

New York Premiere:  November 22, 2008.  St. Peter’s Church, New York
​Arlene Travis (soloist) with the Gregg Smith Singers

Publisher:  Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
Soprano and mezzo-soprano arrangements available for purchase from Hal Leonard Music
Soprano
​Mezzo-soprano 

Schechyanu

Scored for:  soprano, mezzo-soprano, choir, piano (or organ)

​World Premiere:  November 16, 2003.  Central Synagogue, New York
Ida Ra Cahana (soprano), Mimi Lerner (mezzo-soprano)

Joint commission by Central Synagogue, New York and Rodef Shalom, Pittsburgh
Solo Piano

Prelude 

1957, revised 2010
Scored for:  piano
​
​World Premiere:  Brandeis University, Waltham MA

​Commissioned for A Concert for Reflection, Hitchcock Presbyterian Church, Scarsdale, New York
Christopher Lewis (piano)
John Novacek Piano
Television

A Passover Seder

​​1995

A PBS television special presented by author 
and Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel. 
Watch on Youtube
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