Jacques Cohen
Principal Guest Conductor

Jacques is Music Director and Principal Conductor of one of the UK 's finest orchestras, the Isis Ensemble. He has recently conducted concerts with Romania 's premier orchestra, the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest and is Principal Guest Conductor with the City of Oxford Orchestra . He has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bombay Chamber Orchestra and guest conducted literally dozens of orchestras both in the UK and abroad. He has also been Music Director of several major opera productions and was recently appointed Music Director of the Seychelles International Music Festival.

He has recorded CDs for a variety of labels, notably Meridian, with whom he recently recorded the sensational Music for Strings CD with the Isis Ensemble. He has conducted performances of both his own music and that of other composers on radio and television including a momentous performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Three Screaming Popes for BBC Radio 3.
 

His many compositions include: Yigdal , premiered by the Isis Ensemble last year and subsequently performed by the Yehudi Menuhin Orchestra both here and abroad; Serenata Malinconica for Violin, Viola or Cello and small orchestra has become very popular. His large-scale Songs of Innocence and Experience for chorus and orchestra was premiered at St John Smith's Square in 2005. He has also written several award winning works for choir including Jubilate, commissioned by Berkhamsted Choral Society and a set of Christmas choral pieces, known collectively as Cohen's Carols . Other works have been performed at the South Bank in London and at the Royal Albert Hall and he has also written music for BBC television.

Jacques read music at Oxford where he conducted the main university orchestra and performed several of his own compositions. When leaving Oxford , he was awarded the Conducting Scholarship at the Royal College of Music where he later won the Tagore Gold Medal, the College's prize for its most outstanding student. Since then he has won several other awards including the August Manns Conducting Prize, Surrey Sinfonietta Composition Prize and the Constant and Kit Lambert Award. He took First Prize in the British Reserve Conducting Competition and was also a prize winner in the Leeds Conductors' Competition.