"A brilliant player with a bright future ahead" 

Suzi Klein

"The sound of heavenly beauty"

Maxim Vengerov

"A natural feel for melody"

Nicola Benedetti

Leora Cohen
Leora Cohen
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    • Biography
    • Concerts
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    • Newest release
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  • The Jozef Chasyd Quartet
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The Menuhin Tree


Dennis Evans

Full biography

Introduction and Education

Leora Cohen is a British-American violinist. She enjoys a diverse career, performing as a recitalist, soloist and ensemble musician around the world. Leora graduated with a double first class (summa cum laude) from Cambridge University and has been awarded two Diplomas with Distinction by the Royal College of Music in London. Previous professors include Remus Azoitei, Ani Schnarch and Alexander Gilman.

Soloist

Leora made her debut at 16, performing Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole at St John’s Smith Square in London. Before graduating from high school, she went on to perform a number of concertos and pieces by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Sarasate with London-based orchestras.      During her studies at Cambridge, she appeared regularly as a soloist with student orchestras, covering a considerable amount of the Baroque repertoire for solo violin and orchestra. In early 2020, she performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at Cambridge’s main concert hall and was a finalist in the Sir Karl Jenkins Music Competition. During the pandemic, Leora appeared on the Violin Channel in recordings and live performances, including a masterclass with Michael Vaiman playing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. 

   Whilst studying at the Royal College, Leora was a member of the LGT Young Soloists, performing regularly to the Liechtenstein Royalty at their private functions and palaces internationally. With this group, she was also chosen as soloist to open the 2022 Heidelberg Festival, playing Kreisler’s Alt Wiener Tanzweisen. In her final year at the Royal College, Leora was soloist with the College’s Symphony Orchestra, playing Mendelssohn in a public, live-streamed masterclass with Maxim Vengerov. 

   Since graduating, she has become a regular soloist with the Albion Chamber Orchestra and the Piccadilly Sinfonietta in London as well as a member of the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble.

Collaborator

Leora performs recitals across the UK with Paul Wingfield and Germany with Parvis Hejazi and in Fira Duo with flautist, Liz Meyer. Her creative and unique concert-programming has resulted in a notable enthusiasm for performing recitals. She has endeavoured to include music by female and under-represented composers at every opportunity, expanding her repertoire significantly. Leora also has a distinct approach to, and passion for, contemporary music that is respected by many composers, who have written and dedicated music to her. Leora was a chamber music award holder at Cambridge University and has played chamber music on BBC Radio, and at the prestigious London venues Kings Place and Wigmore Hall. 

Orchestral playing

Leora is a prominent concertmaster of her generation, taking up her first posts at a young age, leading concerts with the National Children's Orchestra and the Royal College Junior Department orchestras. She is also a former concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, of the Royal College Symphony Orchestra and of the Cambridge University Orchestra, leading orchestral concerts with significant concertmaster solos under the baton of many renowned conductors, such as John Wilson, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Antonio Pappano, Jac van Steen and Thomas Adés, and collaborating with soloists, such as Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Guy Johnson, Alim Beisembayev and Tom Poster. 

   As a teenager, Leora was praised for her orchestral leading by distinguished music journalists and concert critics, being described as a leader that “really impressed” and playing solos that were “ a particular delight”. During her concertmaster walk onto the stage and bow at the 2017 BBC Proms, Leora was introduced by Suzi Klein live on BBC Radio and television as “a brilliant player with a very bright future ahead of her”. She has continued to receive positive acclaim for her numerous concertmaster appearances in major concert halls globally, on international radio channels and global concert series such as Festival Berlioz. 

   During her studies and as a young professional, Leora also appeared alongside the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Ballet, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She currently takes on extra work with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, Brandenburg Sinfonia and Chineke! and leads the Hapax Orchestra.

Collaborations

Leora is joined by Gloucester Cathedral's Director of Music, Adrian Partington, for recitals of music for violin and organ.

    Leora is grateful for sponsorship and support from...

    Funding bodies

    Funding bodies

    Funding bodies

    Help Musicians UK

    The Stephen Bell Trust

    The Countess of Munster Musical Trust

    The MCSC/H.S. Barlow Charitable Foundation

    The Loan Fund for Musical Instruments

    Institutions

    Funding bodies

    Funding bodies

    Cambridge University

    The Royal College of Music

    Individuals

    Funding bodies

    Individuals

     Joyce Fretwell

    Norman Rosenberg

    Dennis Evans

    Miles and Anna Kibort Hember

    Those who wish to remain anonymous

    Other

    Violin purchase

    Individuals

    Talent Unlimited

    The Harrison-Frank Family Foundation

    The Guild of Friends

    Florian Leonhard Fine Violins

    The Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table

    Cambridge Violin Workshop

    Violin purchase

    Violin purchase

    Violin purchase

    Leora is currently seeking sponsorship to purchase an instrument. To find out more, or discuss kindly contributing to or helping to raise the funds for this investment, please don't hesitate to contact her. 

    Upcoming performances

    22 March 2025

    Recital for the Holst Society

    2pm

    Gloucester Cathedral

    Event Details

    22 March 2025

    Recital for the Holst Society

    Leora and Adrian Partington play a recital of English music to celebrate Gustav Holst.

    2pm

    Gloucester Cathedral

    29th March 2025

    Concerto with Westmorland Symphony Orchestra

    Event Details

    29th March 2025

    Concerto with Westmorland Symphony Orchestra

    Leora performs Sibelius's Violin Concerto

    25 April 2025

    Fira Duo and Paul Wingfield

    7pm

    Trinity College, Cambridge

    Event Details

    25 April 2025

    Fira Duo and Paul Wingfield

    Paul Wingfield joins the Fira Duo as composer and pianist. Featuring the premiere of his new work 'The Moon and the Stars'. 

    7pm

    Trinity College, Cambridge

    7th June 2025

    Cohen-Wingfield Duo recital

    12pm

    -

    10pm

    St James Muswell Hill

    7th June 2025

    Cohen-Wingfield Duo recital

    12pm

    -

    10pm

    St James Muswell Hill

    27 May 2025

    STOCKHAUSEN's TIERKREIS ​and music by MORTON FELDMAN

    7.30pm

    1901 Arts Club, Waterloo, London

    Event Details

    27 May 2025

    STOCKHAUSEN's TIERKREIS ​and music by MORTON FELDMAN

    Noted for a vocal delivery that is, "forceful, with a high register that sounds like Arthur Blythe, a low range that booms out like Armstron...

    Event Details

    7.30pm

    1901 Arts Club, Waterloo, London

    More Events

    Picture gallery

    Quotations and reviews

    "Young British-American violinist Leora Cohen...brings a  a wonderful range of colours and nuance to the Three Poems for Violin and Piano, matching Honeybourne’s playing with a remarkable sure-footedness, sensitivity and musical maturity." - Francis Wilson


    "Reason’s ability to combine the sounds of violin and piano – enhanced  by the resonant acoustic of the recording as well as the superbly  controlled and judged playing of Leora Cohen – whets one’s appetite for  her larger-scale works" - Paul Corfield Godfrey


    Videos

    Stanford Violin Sonata no.2

    Composed in around 1898, this sonata is the later of two that Stanford wrote for violin and piano. It belongs to Stanford’s period of full compositional maturity and is most obviously influenced by the violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms. Despite the positive reception of its single performance during Stanford’s lifetime, the Sonata disappeared from the repertoire for over a century until it was recorded for Hyperion in 1999 and finally published in 2006.

    Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, 2nd movement

    Public masterclass with Maxim Vengerov and the RCM Symphony Orchestra

    Orchestral leading

    Lunchtime recital

    Bowdoin International Music Festival

    Contact

    Get in touch

    Do you have questions, want to book a performance, request a CV or collaborate on a new piece? 

    Send a WhatsApp message

    Leora Cohen

    London, United Kingdom

    leora.cohen99@gmail.com +44 7955332179

    For USA bookings, please contact:

    Kenneth Carol Agency, Inc. 

    email: 

    cmunderwood@kennethcarolagency.com

    800-674-5346 ext. 803

    www.kennethcarolagency.com

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