ALEXANDER COHEN, Timpani

Alexander Cohen has been the Principal Timpanist of the Calgary Philharmonic since 2011. A student of Paul Yancich and Richard Weiner, he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2006. Shortly thereafter he was appointed as Principal Timpanist of the West Virginia Symphony- a position he held for five years. During those years, he maintained a busy freelance career, playing regularly with the San Diego Symphony, where he acted as Principal Timpanist during the 2007-2008 season. He has acted in the capacity of visiting Principal Timpanist with the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic. He has also performed as timpanist with Marlboro Festival Orchestra, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New York String Orchestra, and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Alex is a founding member of ChamberFest West and ChamberFest Cleveland. He is also a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, having completed a four year training program under the direction of Aliza Stewart in Boston. A passionate outdoorsman, he enjoys biking, hiking, scrambling, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. Alex plays a custom set of Mark XIV timpani built for him by the American Drum Company in Denver, Colorado.