Stephen Cohn - Career

Career

Stephen's first public work came courtesy of the mid-1960s folk quartet The Pleasure Fair, also featuring guitarist and songwriter Robb Royer (later of the popular 1970's band Bread). This group, with Stephen on guitar and assisting with vocal arrangements, released their first single in 1966 under the name of The Rainy Day People, before becoming The Pleasure Fair and issuing a self-titled LP the following year. In 1973 Stephen also released a self-titled solo album on Motown Records.

His first string quartet, Eye of Chaos was premiered by the Arditti Quartet, who also recorded the work for release on an Albany Records CD entitled, Arditti Quartet California Composers. His chamber orchestra work, Noah’s Rhythm was premiered at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, conducted by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Steven Stucky. He has been invited twice to be Composer in Residence at The International Musical Encounters of Catalonia which he attended in the south of France. His violin duet, Matin Sur les Collines de Ceret was performed at the Otzberg Summer Festival in Germany. In 2006, his orchestral work Finale, from Two Together, an American Folk Music Suite was premiered by the Kansas City Symphony. The same work is part of an At Peace Media CD release which won at Parents’ Choice Gold Award in 2003. Also in 2006, his work for choir and chamber orchestra commissioned by the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music, entitled The Family of God was premiered at Merkin Hall in New York City.