Robert S. Cohen

Robert S. Cohen has written music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and theatre. He has been the recipient of many awards and commissions, including a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, an American Music Center grant and a Meet the Composer Award.

His most recent work, Homeland Security Suite for percussion ensemble received its world premiere at Ithaca College and was just published by HoneyRock Music. A commission entitled Of Eternity Considered as a Closed System for soloists, chorus and orchestra based on seven poems by the late Rochester poet Hyam Plutzik, was premiered February 5, 2007 at Carnegie Hall as part of a concert sponsored by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation entitled “Partners of Hope”. His Music-Theatre work Edison Invents for Baritone and Orchestra, a commission from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation was premiered by the Westfield Symphony in spring, 2005. His ballet String Quartet #2 (A Day in the Life) was premiered by the New Jersey Music Society's Ensemble America and the Freespace Dance Company fall 2004, and his a cappella choral work Sprig of Lilac was performed by the Connecticut Choral Artists (CONCORA) and released on CD by the St. Martin's Chamber Choir of Denver, Colorado. In addition, his setting of Wallace Steven's Peter Quince at the Clavier has been performed by CONCORA, Bel Canto and the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble and his choral work: Genesis Part I for chorus, brass & percussion with a libretto by Maria V.S. Seigenthaler recently received its world premiere at Southern Nazarene University. His Three Spirituals commissioned by the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music was premiered in NY October, 2005. a ballet for Percussion, Tiktaalik, which will be premiered April 11, 2007 as part of Kean University's Ars Vitalis series in association with the NJ Dance Theatre Ensemble; a timpani solo, Orange Alert, HoneyRock Publishing, 2007; Ode to a Toad, for a cappella chorus set to a poem by Thomas Seigenthaler; a choral setting of The Serenity Prayer; and a work for children's choir entitled My New York, a commission from the Children's Aid Society Chorus, that will be premiered this coming May at the Ethical Culture Society in New York City.

Bob co-authored the book and composed the score for the 2000 Richard Rodgers Award winning Off-Broadway musical Suburb. The production at Off-Broadway's York Theatre Company in 2001 earned nominations for Best Musical from the Outer Critic's Circle, the Drama League, and the Lucille Lortel Awards. Suburb also received a 2001 Artie Award as Best Musical for a production at the Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo, NY and subsequently has been performed throughout the United States and Europe. It is published by Dramatic Publishing, 2006. In addition, his short story Anonymous: Inventor of Fire was recently published in the online literary journal Pindeldyboz and he is a contributing author to Romance Recipes for the Soul, Pisces Press, 1999. Other literary works include a collection of short stories, The Half-Life of Pizza and Other Slices, and the novel George (My life as a Cat).

Bob received a B.A in Music from Brown University (1968), where he studied composition with Ron Nelson; an M.A from Queens College (1970), where he studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and served as an adjunct lecturer and Assistant Director of the Queens College Electronic Music Studio; and was enrolled in the PhD program in composition at Columbia University where he studied with Vladimir Ussachevsky and served as an adjunct lecturer. For a number of years he was an Assistant Professor of Music at Drew University and an Adjunct Professor of Music at Montclair State University. Bob currently works as a composer and writer, is and is a member of ASCAP, the American Music Center, Dramatists Guild, AACT, PAS and Chorus America. He is the president of Leapfrog Productions and lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife Maryann and three cats: Fred, Ginger and Trixie.