Cello Ensemble
David Cohen & his students
David Cohen
David Cohen is one of the most successful and charismatic young cellists in Europe. Born in the town of Tournai in Belgium, David made his solo debut with the Belgium National Orchestra at the age of nine. His International career as a soloist soon flourished with the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, NHK, BBC Concert Orchestra...
In his remarkable career, David has worked as a soloist with some of the most distinguished conductors in the industry such as Lord Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Walter Weller, Sir Charles Mackerras, Vladimir Ashkenazy, C.V.Dohnanyi, Pedro Hallfter, Martin Brabbins ect...
As a graduate of the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Guidhall School of Music & Drama, thanks to a grant from the Menuhin Foundation, David won more than 25 prizes in International Cello Competitions. Amongs his prizes and awards are the Gold Medal of the GSMD in London (like Jaqueline Dupre), The Geneva International Cello Competition, the Audi International Competition, International Cello Competition in Douai, ’Tenuto’international Competition", The Guilherminia Suggia Gift, The Ian Flaming Trust, SPES, KPMG Martin Scholarship, Hattory Foundation, Berllotti-Buitonie Fellowship award, Fondation SUISA, J.S.Bach International Competition. He was Nominated ECHO “Rising Star” for the season 2002-2003 by the “Royal Philharmonic Society of Belgium” and the “Concert Gebouw”. He has studied with the finest cellists of this time: Wiliam Pleeth, Melissa Pheleps, Lynn Harrel, Daniil Schafran, Nathalia Gutman, Gary Hofman, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, Boris Pergamenschikow, Lord Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich and Oleg Kogan.
David is a passionate Chamber Musician, he regularly performs in major festivals with the finest young talents of Europe. He is regularly invited to International cello and chamber music festivals. David is the Artistic Director of the Melchior Ensemble, which brings together the greatest young talents from Europe such as Sasha Sitkovetsky, Priya Mitchel, Corine Chapelle, Silver Ainomae, Razvan Popovici ect...
David was appointed Principal Cello of the Philharmonia Orchestra in March 2001 (the youngest Principal cello ever!).
David plays on a magnificient Dominicus Montagnana cello circa 1735 thanks to the kindness and generosity of Mrs Pat Morton and the help from the Razumovsky trust.
João Tiago Brandão da Cunha
João began his cello studies at the age of six at the “ Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian” in Braga (Portugal) with Raquel Alves. In 2011 he continued his studies at the University of Minho, under the guidance of the international cellist Pavel Gomziakov. After finishing his bachelor degree he entered in the class of David Cohen at the Royal Conservatoire of Mons. Since 2015 he has been invited to work with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto. Since 2016 he has become a member of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra (BPhO) and has been chosen to take part of the « Britten-Pears Orchestra » in London, during the 2017 season.
Thibault Blanchard
Thibault Blanchard-Dubois is a French cellist currently studying his bachelor degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music with David Cohen. As well as playing standard cello repertoire, he is working on mixing classical music, experimental-contemporary music, digital art and new technologies including a collaborative show ‘’P comme Piano’’ mixing theatre, live music, singing, photography. He is a recipient of numerous prizes among them first prize at the Vivian Joseph Classical Concerto Competition Concerto in 2016, first prize at Concours des Clés d’or in Paris (2013), and first prize at Epinal Music Competition (2006). He is very grateful to the Montague Cleeve Scholar fund which generously supports his study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Urška Horvat
Urška Horvat is a young Slovenian cellist, currently studying at Trinity Laban with David Cohen. She has worked with other great musicians such as Enrico Bronzi, Leonid Gorokhov, Natalie Clein, Maria Kliegel, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Valery Gergiev...She is the recipient of numerous prizes from national and international competitions: among them 1st prize at the Vera Kantrovitch Bach Competition 2015, 1st prize at the Soloists' Competition 2016, 1st prize at the Leonard Smith and Felicity Young Competition 2016, Concordia Foundation 2017... Urška has appeared in venues including the Wigmore Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, St. James's Piccadilly, Cadogan Hall and Southbank Centre. She is a member of YES Camerata (a Young European String Camerata) and a founder, with pianist Francesca Fierro and violinist Andrea Montalbano, of award-winning Tamesis Piano Trio. Urška is also playing in a cello duo, Duo Furioso with another young Slovenian cellist, Helena Švigelj. She is very grateful to the Ofenheim Charitable Trust who generously supports her study at Trinity Laban.
Clémence Raoult
Clémence started playing cello at the age of seven with Olivier Libert in the Conservatoire of Lille. In 2013, she entered in the Music Conservatoire of the City of Luxembourg in the class of Claude Giampellegrini where she obtained her diplomas in cello performance and chamber music. Currently, she is studying at Royal Conservatoire of Mons with David Cohen.
Aida Scavuzzo
Born in Pamplona (Spain), Aida Scavuzzo started her studies with Marta Tobes. At the age of 12 she entered in the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory in Diego Arbizu’s class. She participated in the international masterclasses with different cellists such as Asier Polo, Damian Martinez, Jose Luis Quintana, Barbara Switalska, John Todd, Marie Paule Milone, Denis Posquin…She played in the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie and the Mannheimer Philharmoniker. Since 2012 she has been studying at the Royal Conservatory of Mons with David Cohen.
Alba Reiris
Alba Reirís is from Ponteareas, Galicia. She began her musical studies of cello and piano in the Conservatory with cellist Margarita Juokova and later, with Iminas Kucinskas. She was a member of the Youth Orchestra of the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, Spain. She also received a coaching from the members of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia. Alba was selected as a young promising cellist and was offered chamber music concerts in the cycle of Young Soloists Teresa Berganza in Santiago
de Compostela. In 2011 she began her bachelor degree at the Conservatory of Music of Aragon, Spain, with cellists Barbara Switalska and David Apellániz. Since 2015 Alba has been studying the master degree in Belgium with David Cohen at the Royal Conservatory of Mons.
Helena Švigelj
Young Slovenian cellist Helena Švigelj is a postgraduate student at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in the class of David Cohen. She has won many international prizes such as 1st prize at the Vera Kantrovich Bach competition 2016, 1st prize at the Vivian Joseph classical concerto competition 2016, 2nd prize at Svirel competition. As a soloist she performed with Slovenian Philharmonics Orchestra, Orchestra of Royal conservatory of Mons, Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie and NOVA philharmonics. Helena was part of many young and professionals orchestras, such as Slovenian Philharmonics, Trinity Laban Symphonic orchestra, SFK Orchestra, YES Camerata, Orchestra of Music Academy in Ljubljana and The Royal Conservatory of Mons Orchestra. Helena performed at festivals »Les sons intensifs«, »Côté-Cour Côté jardin«, Festival de Wallonie, »Il Concertando« Festival in Rome, Festival Lent in Slovenia. She is very grateful to Trinity Laban, who supports her study.
Olivia Clayton
Olivia is currently working towards her Post Graduate Advanced Diploma; continuing her studies with David Cohen at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where she has gained a Scholarship. Olivia has been awarded the Barbirolli Memorial Award for solo cello two years running (2015 and 2016) and has been a member of the Camilli String Quartet since 2013. Olivia is currently playing on a Benjamin Banks cello generously loaned to her from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Mathilde Blondel
Mathilde is an open minded, passionate and creative cellist from France. She is also playing the baroque cello and teaching in an association in the south-west of Paris. She is involved in various projects across traditional, pop and contemporary music and playing chamber and orchestral music. She is also creating and playing in interactive shows for children. She is currently doing her master degree at Royal Conservatoire of Mons (Belgium) with David Cohen.