Cellist Robert Cohen Joins Fine Arts Quartet At U of Wisconsin- Milwaukee

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts has announced that Robert Cohen has joined the Fine Arts Quartet as its newest cellist. He will be playing with the Quartet in their upcoming concert on January 29, 2012 at 3pm, at the Helen Bader Concert Hall on UWM's campus.

Mr. Cohen made his concerto debut at the age of twelve at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and throughout his distinguished international career he has been hailed as one of the foremost cellists of our time. Invited to perform concertos world-wide by conductors Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, and Sir Simon Rattle, Cohen has also collaborated in chamber music with many eminent artists such as Yehudi Menuhin and the Amadeus String Quartet, with whom he recorded the Schubert Cello Quintet on Deutsche Grammophon. At age nineteen, Cohen recorded the Elgar Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the EMI label, and since then, has recorded much of the cello repertoire for Sony, Decca, DGG, EMI, and BIS. Cohen, who studied with the legendary artists William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré, and Mstislav Rostropovich, is an inspirational teacher who has given master classes all over the world. In addition to joining UWM, he is also a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, and is director of the Charleston Manor Festival in the south of England.

The Fine Arts Quartet, now celebrating its 66th anniversary, is one of the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive recording legacy. Founded in Chicago in 1946, and based at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1963, the Quartet is one of the elite few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a century. Violinists Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, who have performed together in the Quartet for nearly 30 years, were joined by violist Nicolò Eugelmi in 2009 and cellist Robert Cohen in 2012. Each season, the Fine Arts Quartet tours worldwide, with concerts in such musical centers as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mexico City, and Toronto. The Quartet has recorded more than 200 works, over 80 of them with Evans, Boico, and the late Wolfgang Laufer.

"We are thrilled that Mr. Cohen is joining the Fine Arts Quartet and know that he will make a significant contribution to this outstanding ensemble," says Scott Emmons, Associate Dean of the Peck School of the Arts.

About the January 29th Concert
The Fine Arts Quartet and guest pianist Joseph Kalichstein will perform works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Johannes Brahms. The concert will be preceded by a pre-concert talk at 2pm by former Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra principal bassoonist Stephen Basson. This concert, like all others this season, is free and open to the public. Reserved seats are required. Please note that this concert is nearly sold out. To ensure that as many people as possible can take advantage of this special concert experience, any seats that are empty at 3pm will be released to patrons waiting for seats.

For more information on the Quartet, please visit: www.fineartsquartet.org

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