1/12 Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen
Acclaimed as a “young star” and “complete artist” by the New York Times and "extravagantly gifted... poised to redefine what’s possible for singers of this distinctive voice type” by the San Francisco Chronicle, American countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen has quickly been identified as one of opera's most promising rising stars. Aryeh's first commercial recording project - the world premiere recording of Kenneth Fuchs' Poems of Life with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta - recently won a 2019 GRAMMY® Award in the Best Classical Compendium category, which honors albums with multiple soloists and multiple works. First Prize Winner and Audience Choice Award recipient at the 2018 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and Third Prize Winner in the 2019 edition of Placido Domingo's Operalia, in his breakout 2016-2017 season, he was named Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was the recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He was First Prize winner of the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition, and winner of the Irvin Scherzer Award from the George London Foundation.
In the 2019-20 season, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen returns to Houston Grand Opera as David in Barrie Kosky’s heralded production of Handel’s Saul. Additional highlights of the season include the roles of Tamerlano in Vivaldi’s Bajazet with Portland Opera and Goffredo in a new production of Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glimmerglass Festival. On the concert stage, he is heard in Handel’s Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and in the thematic programs ‘Orphean Enchantments’ with American Bach Soloists and ‘Bach Goes Greek’ with Ars Lyrica Houston.
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen is a member of San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowshipprogram for 2018-19, and he made his San Francisco Opera debut as Medoro in Handel’s Orlando under the baton of Maestro Christopher Moulds. Performances of the season also included the role of David in Handel’s Saul with Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Ottone in Handel’s Agrippina in staged performances with Ars Lyrica Houston conducted by Matthew Dirst and directed by Tara Faircloth, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Matthew Dirst and the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the world premiere of a new ballet by Yuri Possokhov with the San Francisco Ballet, and a gala concert with American Bach Soloists, led by Maestro Jeffrey Thomas, with whom he then recorded his first solo album – featuring works by Handel, Gluck, and Vivaldi.
Aryeh earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Princeton University (with a concentration in Intellectual and Cultural History) and received academic certificates in Vocal Performance and Judaic Studies. During his senior year, he became the first singer in a decade to win the Princeton University Concerto Competition. Upon graduating, he was awarded the Isidore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts, granted each year by Princeton University to the student of greatest promise in the performance of classical music.