Jonah Cohen (b. 2004) (he/him) is a composer, conductor, pianist, and cellist from Farmington Hills, MI and currently based in New York City. His compositions tend to revolve around his fascinations with space, time, motion, and stagnation and how they are relevant in the here and now. He strives to write music that is accessible yet unafraid to explore sonic realms that may be uncomfortable. One of his most central pursuits is balancing risk with safety and security in his music to create memorable and impactful experiences for the audience.

Jonah has received recognition from ASCAP, National YoungArts Foundation, Foundation for Modern Music, Interlochen Center for the Arts, National Young Composers Challenge, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Penn State School of Music, National Federation of Music Clubs, Music Teachers National Association, National Parent-Teacher Association, and Michigan Music Educators Association for his work. He has been lucky enough to attend composition programs such as Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Atlantic Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, Curtis Young Artists Summer Program, and Sewanee WinterFest. He is a current participant in Salastina’s Sounds Promising Young Composers Program, through which he works with Derrick Skye. Jonah has also had the privilege of working with such luminaries as Gabriela Lena Frank, Martin Bresnick, Melinda Wagner, John Mackey, Pierre Jalbert, Reiko Fueting, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Frank Ticheli, Valerie Coleman, Nico Muhly, Julia Adolphe, David Serkin Ludwig, Chaya Czernowin, inti figgis-vizueta, Nina C. Young, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Dmitri Tymoczko, Anthony R. Green, Wang Jie, and many more. Jonah recently graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he majored in composition and studied with Dr. Cynthia Van Maanen. At the Academy, Jonah was honored to receive the Neil Rabaut Memorial Composition Scholarship, which is given “…in honor and recognition of your excellence in composition, high level of self-motivation and evident love of learning”, as well as the Young Artist Award. Jonah is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition degree at The Juilliard School, studying with David Ludwig.

Dedicated to supporting future generations of musicians, Jonah is the founder and Program Director of The NowBeat Project. Since its founding in 2021, this nonprofit organization has provided free opportunities for over 50 young composers from 17 US states and 5 countries, and will present its first in-person concert in May 2024. Beginning in Fall 2024, Jonah will also serve as a Teaching Fellow in The Juilliard School’s Ear Training Department, working with Dr. Kevin Quill.

As a conductor, Jonah began his formal studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, where he participated in the Advanced Conducting course. Through this class he worked extensively with Dr. Matthew Schlomer, and as a final project, he conducted a string orchestra made up of Academy students in a performance Richard Meyer’s Vanishing Pointe. During his time at Interlochen, Jonah also founded and directed the Interlochen Modern Music Project, which was a chamber orchestra comprised of students dedicated to reading and rehearsing works written in the last 100 years. Jonah is currently a Robert L. Poster Apprentice Conductor at the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), where he studies with NYYS Music Director Andrew J. Kim and NYYS Assistant Conductor Adrian Rogers.