“Cohen built tension over long stretches without releasing it prematurely—a skill that lent the entire evening a high degree of inner drama. At the same time, the moderate tempi allowed ample room for great emotionality and a deep insight behind Mahler’s score.

This level of silence, attentiveness, and respect has become rare today – and underscores how deeply this concert was perceived as an existential musical experience.

Daniel Cohen demonstrated a masterly conducting performance that only very few conductors are privileged to achieve. A perfect balance of structure, penetration, and emotion, with dreamily assured tempi and captivating dynamics. This is exactly how Gustav Mahler should sound!”

“General Music Director Daniel Cohen, together with the State Orchestra of Darmstadt, spans a powerful, quasi-symphonic arc of tension over all the small structural parts of the composition, holding everything together. It often rages fiercely, aggressively, loudly and piercingly, but can also sound grotesque and surreal.”

“General Music Director Daniel Cohen conducted. His extraordinary performance must be mentioned first, because the reference recording from the Vienna State Opera in 1989 under Claudio Abbado is a benchmark that one would normally not consider in the context of a house like Darmstadt. But in this case, the comparison is justified. Plasticity, transparency, and power — presented in the right places perfectly.”

“The second act opens with an instrumental magic forest and garden by the Darmstadt State Orchestra under the direction of its chief conductor – a natural scene one could have painted. Daniel Cohen meticulously combs through the score for Wagner’s seductive sound textures, which especially come to life in chamber music. That’s why he also doesn’t lose dynamic control, balancing stage and orchestral pit so well that the protagonists don’t need to shout or scream. Quite mysteriously, almost unnoticeably, the lonely warning call of Brangäne rises in the second act above the withdrawn orchestra, which suddenly disappears with a “shimmering intuition.”

“Verdi’s the “Messa da Requiem” touches everyone. Especially when it is interpreted as magnificently as at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. Everything is just right here. Supported by the Symphony Choir, the Staatstheater choir and the State Orchestra merge under the baton of Daniel Cohen into a large, harmonious ensemble, making the tutti passages in particular a powerful. The audience acknowledged the performance with a well deserved standing ovation.”

“The music of Elektra was truly electrifying.”

“Three women and a giant orchestra in great form make the opera premiere of “Elektra” a scary pleasure.”

“The conductor of the Deutsche Oper Orchestra is the GMD of the Darmstadt State Theatre, Daniel Cohen, for whom this is familiar territory. He was conductor here from 2015 to 2017. The orchestra is in brilliant form, always plays with a sense of proportion and is able to maintain the atmospheric tension of this music, which is sensual and slow-breathing for long stretches.”

“Conductor Daniel Cohen and the Deutsche Oper Orchestra perform at the quality level of a top international house.”

“Cohen and the Darmstadt State Orchestra manage to capture the audience with a synthesis of analytical acuity and dramatic verve”

“With a stellar performance by the Staatsorchester Darmstadt under the direction of General Music Director Daniel Cohen, Berg’s intricate music sounds so light that its structure dances before the eyes.”

“Exquisite execution” […] “Cohen ensuring the performance [of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet] was a model of refined taste.”