Samantha Cohen
Samantha Cohen studied classical guitar at the Victorian College of the Arts, where she eventually decided to abandon the guitar in favour of the lute.
After undertaking studies in lute at the University of Melbourne, she won numerous awards and scholarships, including Australia Council grants and a Churchill Fellowship, which enabled her to further her studies with Jakob Lindberg in the UK. A scholarship from the Fondazione Marco Fodella sent her to Italy for a year’s study with American lutenist, Paul Beier.
Samantha works as a freelance continuo player and lutenist. She has performed with Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Ludovico’s Band, The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Brandenburg Ensemble, and Pinchgut Opera as well as the Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.
She has appeared in the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, and has been recorded for radio and CD by the ABC.
Performing as Evergreen Ensemble
Evergreen Ensemble is where art music and folk music meet. It features four female musicians from Melbourne, Sydney and Geelong.
Snow in Summer
In 18th-century Scotland, folk songs sat beside Corelli and Vivaldi without hierarchy. Across thirteen tracks, Snow in Summer pairs period sonatas with folk arrangements: sparse strings, plucked notes like stars, and a voice high above.
Samantha Cohen is a member of
Accademia Arcadia
Accademia Arcadia plays baroque cantatas and chamber sonatas with one-to-a-part heat: Buxtehude's sacred motets, Handel's Italian dramas full of fire, Corelli through Purcell and Leclair, and improvisatory violin writing that still feels spontaneous.