Jonah Cohen
Assistant Conductor
Jonah Cohen is a composer, conductor, pianist, cellist, and educator from Farmington Hills, MI and currently based in New York City. His work centers around balancing accessibility with adventurousness to create memorable, impactful experiences for the performers and the audience.
As a conductor, Jonah began his formal studies at Interlochen Arts Academy, where he participated in the Advanced Conducting course and worked extensively with Matthew Schlomer. During his time at Interlochen, Jonah also founded and directed the Interlochen Modern Music Project, a student chamber orchestra dedicated to playing works written in the last 100 years. From 2022 to 2025, Jonah served as a Robert L. Poster Apprentice Conductor at the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), where he studied with Andrew J. Kim, Michael Repper, Adrian Rogers, and Tanya Chanphanitpornkit. In the 2024-2025 school year, Jonah was also a participant in Juilliard’s Orchestral Conducting course, through which he worked with Jeffrey Milarsky. Jonah has participated in summer festivals such as Wintergreen Music’s LEAD Cooperative Conducting Program (2024) and National Orchestral Institute + Festival’s Conducting Academy (auditor) (2025), where he has had the privilege of learning from Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Erin Freeman, and Mei-Ann Chen. Since 2024, he has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Weill Cornell Music & Medicine Orchestra.
Jonah’s music has been performed by preeminent ensembles and soloists such as the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Ember Choral Arts, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Salastina, members of the Bergamot Quartet, Norfolk New Music Ensemble, soprano Lucy Shelton, percussionists Ji Hye Jung and Garrett Arney, and many others. As a composer, he has received recognition from ASCAP, Tribeca New Music, The Juilliard School, National YoungArts Foundation, Interlochen Center for the Arts, National Young Composers Challenge, and Music Teachers National Association. Jonah graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Dr. Cynthia Van Maanen and was honored to receive the Neil Rabaut Memorial Composition Scholarship and the Young Artist Award. Jonah is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition degree at The Juilliard School, studying with David Ludwig and A.B. Kirsten. Dedicated to supporting future generations of musicians, Jonah is the Founder and Artistic & Executive Director of The NowBeat Project. Since its founding in 2021, this not-for-profit organization has provided free opportunities for over 70 young composers from 17 US states and 5 countries.