Gerald Cohen
Composer
Sono Luminus presents Steal a Pencil for Me, the hauntingly beautiful new opera album from composer Gerald Cohen and librettist Deborah Brevoort released August 23, 2024.
An opera in two acts, Steal a Pencil for Me is a love story full of hope; a drama of overcoming great adversity, set during the dark times of World War II concentration camps. It is based on the true story of Jaap and Ina Polak, who fell in love as prisoners, amid great loss, helping each other to survive. Based on their love letters, which were published in a book of the same title, Steal a Pencil for Me is about the indestructibility of the life spirit and the power of humankind to survive adversity. The opera dramatizes intimate concerns and private dramas in the midst of the epic tragedy of the Holocaust.
Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift,” (Gramophone Magazine); his music “is filled with vibrant melody, rhythmic clarity, drive and compositional mastery” (Gapplegate Review). In addition to the 2024 recording of the opera Steal a Pencil for Me, his discography includes Voyagers (innova, 2023), Sea of Reeds (Navona, 2014), and Generations (New World Records, 2001).
Cohen is a noted synagogue cantor and baritone; his experience as a singer informs his dramatic, lyrical compositions. His opera Steal a Pencil for Me received its world premiere production by Opera Colorado in January 2018, and his chamber and choral works have been performed in important venues in the United States and internationally. Recognition of Cohen's body of work includes commissioning grants from Meet the Composer, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and American Composers Forum.