Jonathan Cohler

Jonathan Cohler (b. June 19, 1959) is an American clarinetist, conductor and teacher.

Education

Cohler received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1980.

Cohler studied clarinet with Boston Symphony Orchestra clarinetists Pasquale Cardillo and Harold Wright,^[1] Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra clarinetist Karl Leister, clarinet soloist Charles Neidich and Frank Martin.

In 1978, he won a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center. He also held the principal clarinet position of the Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra (now known as the National Repertory Orchestra) in 1979 under conductor Carl Topilow.

Career

Cohler has toured the United States, Europe, South-east Asia and Latin America, and performed at many North American festivals including those of Tanglewood, Aspen, Rockport, Newport, Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons. He has performed frequently at the International Clarinet Association's annual ClarinetFest and has appeared in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. His concerto appearances include Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with the Santo Andre Orchestra in Brazil and Copland's Clarinet Concerto with the Evergreen Orchestra at the National Concert Hall of Taiwan in Taipei.

As a chamber musician Cohler has collaborated with members of the Emerson String Quartet, the Muir String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, the Claremont Trio, the Moscow Conservatory Trio, the Amadeus Trio, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Boston Chamber Music Society and The Wavehill Trio, and with Boris Berezovsky, Ilya Kaler, Andres Diaz, Charles Neidich, Laurence Lesser, Randall Hodgkinson, Judith Gordon, and Rasa Vitkauskaite.^[2]

Cohler's conducting engagements have included Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela, and Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker with the Indian Hill Orchestra (Groton, Massachusetts) and the Granite State Ballet Company in New Hampshire, and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra with the Texas All-State Symphony Orchestra in San Antonio.^[3] For ten years, from 1996 to 2006, he was the Music Director of the Brockton Symphony Orchestra.^[4] He is currently the Music Director of the Massachusetts Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cohler has coached groups that have won prizes in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition,^[5][6][7] the Coleman Chamber Music Competition^[7] and the Chamber Music Foundation of New England Competition.^[8] Groups he has coached have also appeared on the national radio show From the Top.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Cohler has been an adjudicator for international clarinet and music competitions including the 1st European Clarinet Competition,^[13] the Young Artist Competition of the International Clarinet Association,^[14] and the Canadian National Music Competition.

As of 2011, he is a member of the clarinet, chamber music and conducting faculties of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts,^[15] The Boston Conservatory,^[16] and the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he is the Assistant Conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He also teaches and coaches through his Advanced Chamber Music Institute in Boston,^[17] and ran the International Woodwind Festival summer school in Iowa.^[18]

In the early 1990s, Cohler founded the classical music record company Ongaku Records, Inc.^[19] As well as publishing Cohler's own recordings of chamber music, it has also released CDs of other instrumentalists, such as Tchaikovsky Competition gold-medal violinist Ilya Kaler, Tchaikovsky Competition silver-medal cellist Suren Bagratuni and the pianist Sergey Schepkin.^[20]

Discography

• Cohler on Clarinet – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Judith Gordon (piano) (1993). Ongaku Records CD 024-101 (listed in The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs Yearbook 2006/7: Best Buys in Classical Music)^[21][22]

• More Cohler on Clarinet – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Randall Hodgkinson (piano). (1994). Ongaku Records CD 024-102 (listed in The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs Yearbook 2006/7: Best Buys in Classical Music)^[21][23]

• Brahms Clarinet Sonatas – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Judith Gordon (piano), Randall Hodgkinson (piano) (1994). Cover CD, BBC Music Magazine, October 1994

• Moonflowers, Baby! – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Judith Gordon (piano) (1994). Crystal Records CD 733 (MusicWeb International "Recording of the Month", Oct 2010)^[24]

• The Clarinet Alone – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet) (1995). Ongaku Records CD 024-105 (nominated for a NAIRD 1995 Indie Award in the classical solo category)^[25]

• David Alpher: American Reflections – David Alpher (composer and piano), Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Maureen Gallagher (viola), Robert Honeysucker (baritone), Myron Lutzke (cello), Robert Lynam (string bass), Martha Moor (harp), Jean Newton (harpsichord), Kenneth Radnofsky (tenor saxophone) (1999). Ongaku Records CD 024-112

• Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Ilya Kaler (violin), Andrew Mark (cello), Janice Weber (piano) (2004). Ongaku Records CD 024-119^[26]

• Rhapsodie Française – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Rasa Vitkauskaite (piano) (2008). Ongaku Records CD 024-121^[27]

• Jonathan Cohler & Claremont Trio – Jonathan Cohler (clarinet), Claremont Trio (2009). Ongaku Records CD 024-122 (awarded the "Critic's Choice" by BBC Music Magazine)^[28]

References

External links

• Jonathan Cohler official website
• Listen to interview and performance on WGBH Radio. Recorded live on January 21, 2009.