Alexander Cohen

Alexander Cohen has been the Principal Timpanist of the Calgary Philharmonic Since 2011. A student of Paul Yancich and Richard Weiner, he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2006. Shortly after graduation he was appointed as Principal Timpanist of the West Virginia Symphony, a position he held for five years. During those years, he maintained an active freelance career, playing regularly with the San Diego Symphony, where he acted as Principal Timpanist during the 2007-2008 season. Alex is a founding member of ChamberFest Cleveland, where he has performed with international soloists, chamber musicians, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He has acted in the capacity of visiting Principal Timpanist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic. He has also performed as timpanist with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New York String Orchestra, and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He continues his studies with occasional coaching with David Herbert, Timpanist of the Chicago Symphony. He is a student at the Feldenkrais Institute of New England, where he is studying to be a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method under the direction of Aliza Stewart. A passionate outdoorsman, he enjoys hiking, scrambling, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. Alex plays a custom set of Mark XIV timpani built for him by the American Drum Company in Denver, Colorado.