Composer and conductor DENIS COHEN has earned a distinguished reputation in Europe as a contemporary music specialist.

He began his musical studies at the Conservatoire National d'Orleans as a pianist, winning a First Prize in Piano in 1967. He continued his studies with Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire National Superior de Paris. Between 1968 and 1979 he studied piano, analysis, score-writing and composition at the Paris Conservatoire and in Los Angeles. During that time he also appeared as a piano soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician.

He was appointed Assistant Conductor under Pierre Boulez of the Ensemble InterContemporain for the 1981-82 season and has been guest conductor of numerous orchestras including Nouvel Orchestre Philhamonique de Radio-France, Ensemble Ars Nova, Ensemble Nuova Consonanza de Rome, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Elision Ensemble, Asko Ensemble of Amsterdam, Orchestre Philhamonique de Strasbourg, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. His wide repertoire includes works of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Maderna, and Stockhausen.

The French Ministry of Culture, Radio France, Ensemble InterContemporain, IRCAM, and the Strasbourg Festival-Musica have all commissioned works by Denis Cohen.

In addition to his conducting and writing activities, he is regularly invited to present radio broadcasts and lectures on contemporary music, participate on judging panels, and present seminars and master classes. He has recoded Alastair MacDonald's A Trace of Infinity and Michael Smetanin's Skinless Kiss of Angels conducting Australia's Elision Ensemble, as well as works by Martin and Lancino with Ensemble L'Itineraire and, with Ensemble InterContemporain, his own Transmutations, Jeux, and Il sogno di Daedalo.