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AMHERST (MA) - UMass Amherst Department of Music and Dance will celebrate oboe professor Fredric T. Cohen’s 30 years in the music program with a special concert program on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.

The 30^th Anniversary Concert will feature Cohen performing on both oboe and oboe d’amore alongside fellow UMass faculty Salvatore Macchia on viola da gamba and contrabass, and Ayano Kataoka on percussion. Guests will include harpsichordist Lawrence Schipull and oboist Basil Reeve. The program will include Macchia’s Isónnia, Couperin’s  Neuvième concert intitulé Ritratto dell amore (Les Goûts réunis), Dutilleux’s Les Citations, and Koechlin’s Le Repose de Tityre – Monodie.

 The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Bezanson Recital Hall, which is located in the UMass Fine Arts Center, 151 Presidents Dr., Amherst, MA. Beginning this fall, faculty concerts are free, allowing the public to enjoy performances by the Department’s internationally-renowned roster of artists.

Cohen has long been a mainstay of the UMass Amherst music program as a performer, teacher, and administrator. He joined the Department in 1987 during the time that Charles Bestor was the Department Chair. Over his 30-year tenure, Cohen has performed in a multitude of concerts as a soloist and in groups like the Ancora Chamber Ensemble and the Avanti Quintet, two campus-based groups featuring music faculty. He has also conducted and performed in a number of larger-scale events like this past spring’s UMass Amherst Bach Festival.

In the 1990’s, he helped to revive the UMass Symphony Orchestra, serving as both coordinator under Mark Russell Smith and for a time as the ensemble’s interim conductor. Cohen also founded the UMass Double Reed Ensemble and the Graduate Wind Quintet, which he also coached. As a teacher, Cohen helped to launch the careers of many successful performers and educators, including Peter Hemsley Apps, Ellen Exner, Hilary Philipp, Kelly O’Dell, and Catalina Arrubla. Cohen also coached Colonel Jason Fettig, now Director of the prestigious U.S. Marine Band, during Fettig’s time at UMass.

            In addition to his UMass bona fides, Cohen has had an accomplished professional career, having recently retired as Principal Oboe of the Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra after a 32-year stint. He has toured Europe and the United States with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and has been a guest artist with the Muir Quartet, Arcadia Players, Boston Baroque, Connecticut Early Music Festival, and Mohawk Trails concerts. Cohen’s work can be heard on recordings by Telarc, Albany, Gasparo, Northeastern, Gunmar, BEEP, and Opus One Records.

Also in September, assistant professor and jazz bassist Shigefumi Tomita will present  “A Charlie Haden Retrospective” on Thursday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Bezanson Recital Hall. The program will feature material from Haden's time with Ornette Coleman and Haden’s own Quartet West, including Una Muy Bonita, Ramblin' Irene, and Chairman Mao. Tomita will be joined by fellow UMass faculty Felipe Salles (saxophone), Jeffrey W. Holmes (piano) and Thomas Giampietro (drums).