Sol Cohen (1891-1988) was a composer, conductor, songwriter, violinist, and teacher from Urbana, IL. He studied at the Chicago Musical College and the Ecole Normal de Musique in Paris and made his debut as a violinist in Chicago in 1911. Cohen performed throughout the Midwest and West coast before serving as the first-violinist for the Cincinnati Symphony in 1912-1913, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1922-1923. During this time, he also composed and arranged music for film scores. In the following years, Cohen conducted the orchestra from the Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn Ballet, the Peoria Symphony, and the Champaign-Urbana Community-Arts Orchestra. Between 1933 and 1944, Cohen resided at MacDowell 10 times. His song compositions include The White Swan and Gethsemane.
Sol Cohen
Studios
Veltin
Sol Cohen worked in the Veltin studio.
Veltin Studio was donated by alumni of the Veltin School, a school for girls in New York with a highly respected visual arts department. As the plaque just outside the entrance attests, this studio was used by poet Edwin Arlington Robinson during most of the 24 summers he spent at MacDowell. Perhaps most famously, Thornton Wilder put the finishing…