Biography
Michal Cohen is a U.S.-based Israeli singer and songwriter.
Cohen's family comes from Yemen, but she was born and raised in Israel and was influenced musically by both of these cultures. After studying at Rimon College of Music in Israel, she went to the U.S. with a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2000. She studied with Jeannette LoVetri, Theo Bleckmann, Luciana Souza, Kevin Mahogany, Marlon Saunders, Bob Stollof, and Tal Freiberg. She has participated in workshops by Meredith Monk, Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy, Peter Eldridge, and Dominique Eade.
She now lives in New York and performs an wide range of musical styles from ancient Yemenite to modern jazz; besides English, Yemenite, and Hebrew, Cohen has sung in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, French, Turkish, Yiddish, and Portuguese. She is the recipient of a “Finalist” and of two “Honourable Mentions” from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2000 and 2002, as well as The Vocal-Jazz Cleo Laine Award.
Cohen has collaborated with composers such as Meredith Monk, Uri Caine, Yuval Ron with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Jazzhole, Avi Elbaz, Guillermo Nojechowicz, Frank London, and Alon Yavnai. She has composed and performed for Ofri Cnaani’s video-arts titled “Sota” and “Pathos”. Her vocals have appeared on the award winning documentary Souvenirs by Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, as well as Historias Minimas by Carlos Sorin, and Pearl Gluck’s Divan.
Cohen's performing experience includes Koerner Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Jewish History Museum, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Symphony Space, Scullers, Joe’s Pub, Satalla, Pianos, and the Knitting Factory. She has toured widely; Avivir festival, Tamaulipas Folk Festival, and Del Desierto World Festival in Mexico, Hudson River Music Festival, CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival, extended tours with different bands in U.S.A., Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, and in Canada, The Brighton Ethnic Festival, the NYANA festival, etc.
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