EUGENE KOHN
Eugene Kohn began his career quite young as piano accompanist to Maria Callas, Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, and Renata Tebaldi; he rapidly progressed into orchestral conducting, making his Metropolitan Opera debut with «La Gioconda». Following several successful re-engagements there, Kohn began conducting at other major opera houses worldwide (Vienna, Hamburg, Berlin, Barcelona, etc.), and further developed his symphonic repertoire with regional orchestras in Europe and the Americas.
From 1992 to 1997 Mo. Kohn was Principal Guest Conductor of the Bonn Opera where he conducted «Der Rosenkavalier», «Don Giovanni», «La Fanciulla del West», «Die Zauberflöte», «Otello», «Fidelio» and others. Between 1994 and 2002 Kohn was Music Director of the Puerto Rico Symphony, which he enlarged significantly in personnel, budget, audience and repertoire.
In recent years Kohn has been a frequent guest at Washington Opera with 7 different productions, and now divides his time equally between symphony and opera. In 2008/09 he has return engagements at both Teatro Liceu de Barcelona and Deutsche Opera Berlin.
Among his many recordings, Mo. Kohn can be heard with Maria Callas (as her live piano accompanist) on EMI’s 3 CD release “The Master Classes”. He enjoys an extensive recorded legacy with Plácido Domingo, including EMI’s award winning “Roman Heroes” with the London Symphony, and ‘Opera Gala’ with Thomas Hampson and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
In 2004 Kohn made his professional screen acting debut (by re-creating his actual role as Maria Callas’ accompanist) in Zeffirelli’s “Callas Forever”, appearing with Fanny Ardant and Jeremy Irons. On Deutsche Gramophon he can be seen on the DVD’s “Finding Eleazar” (with Neil Shicoff) and “Alagna in Concert”. His recent CD with Domingo and the Budapest Festival Orchestra (DG, 2007), “Italia, ti amo”, was nominated for a Grammy. In 2008 he conducted the St. Lukes Orchestra at Carnegie Hall’s Rainforest Gala featuring Sting, James Taylor, and Billy Joel, and is appearing in various countries with Andrea Bocelli.