Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 16 July 2019
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen a high-voiced rising star at 25

By MIKE SILVERMAN me? Really?'" Cohen said in
Associated Press an interview at the War Me-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — morial Opera House, where
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen's he was finishing a June run
improbable career has of performances as Me-
brought him rapidly to the doro in Handel's "Orlando."
brink of operatic stardom But something changed
at age 25. So it's not surpris- on opening night. "I wasn't
ing that the Brooklyn-born nervous at all," Cohen said.
countertenor would fall "For the first time I'm feeling
prey to feeling a "kind of I really belong here and I
impostor syndrome" when can hold my own."
he walked on stage. Indeed, he did more than
"Up until this time I've always that. His second-act aria,
had this feeling of, 'What, "Verdi allori," regularly drew

This June 4, 2019 photo released by the San Francisco Opera shows Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen dur-
ing a production of “Orlando” at the San Francisco Opera.
Associated Press

some of the evening's big- tenor," he said. "But I think ticeship.
gest applause, and Joshua more than anything that "I remember when he au-
Kosman in the San Fran- starting every single day ditioned for me," said Sheri
cisco Chronicle singled when my voice dropped, Greenawald, who runs the
him out for his "strong and every single day since then San Francisco Opera Cen-
gleaming" tone and "end- I've sung in my falsetto. I ter training programs. "He
lessly eloquent" phrasing. had no idea what I was do- was 21, and I thought, 'You
Cohen is one of a young ing . I was truly just finagling look like you're 12."
generation of counterten- to sing the high notes." Greenawald said the judg-
ors who are popularizing a Though he took voice es listened live to 550 appli-
once-obscure vocal regis- lessons throughout high cants and Cohen was one
ter that lies above normal school it wasn't until he was of just 23 accepted. "For
tenor range and requires a freshman at Princeton me it was a no-brainer,"
them to sing in falsetto or University and saw his first she said, "He's a nice tall kid
"head voice." The reper- opera — Puccini's "La Bo- who can make a sound. I
toire for these singers was heme" at the Metropolitan heard a special voice in a
once limited mainly to ba- Opera — that he felt the special package."
roque composers like Mon- excitement of that art form. After Merola, he earned a
teverdi and Handel, who "These people pouring their two-year stint as one of the
wrote roles for male cas- souls out directly to you, it company's Adler Fellows,
trati. But many contempo- just blew me away and and also was invited to join
rary composers, like Philip changed my life," he said. the Houston Grand Opera
Glass and Thomas Ades, Graduating in 2015 with Studio during the 2017-18
are making use of counter- a degree in government season.
tenors as well. (and certificates in vocal What really put him on
Cohen's career path has performance and Judaic what he calls the "opera
been more unusual even studies), Cohen applied world's radar" was his tri-
than his voice type. Win- to numerous master's pro- umph in the Metropolitan
ning a spot in the presti- grams in voice and post- Opera's National Council
gious Brooklyn Youth Cho- graduate fellowships, and Auditions in 2017. He was
rus at age 11, he watched then, as he puts it, "The one of six winners after four
the other boys "as their hammer came down." rounds of competition, and
voices dropped and they "I got to the finals for almost in the finals his performanc-
would leave the ensemble. everything," he recalled, es of a Handel aria and
"But you know what? I "and then in a span of a a piece from Jonathan
didn't want to," said Cohen, week I got rejected from Dove's "Flight" earned him
whose cherubic features everything." a rave review in The New
seem to go along with his But Cohen was determined York Times.
angelic sound. Somehow to pursue a career in opera. Though he had originally
he managed to keep sing- He supported himself as an been hired as understudy
ing the high notes and per- SAT tutor while taking voice for the role of Medoro, he
suaded the chorus director lessons on his own. Breaks was promoted this spring to
to let him stay. started coming when San the full run when San Fran-
"Presumably I have some Francisco's Merola Opera cisco dismissed David Dan-
natural predisposition to- Program accepted him for iels, who has been charged
ward being a counter- its 2016 summer appren- with sexual assault.q