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On That Note: Performing in Sacred Spaces

Wolfgang Gauch
Cellist Robert Cohen

December is the time of year when holiday concerts abound. From big community sings of Handel’s Messiah to Holiday Pops concerts to chamber music and school concerts, the season is awash in sound. 

Cellist and On That Note contributor Robert Cohen’s experience of this month is no exception.  He’s just back from a series of chamber concerts across Europe and told Lake Effect’s Bonnie North that the venues - houses of worship in particular - are what makes these concerts unique.

"There’s something very special about playing in a church, as opposed to the normal concert hall or those very large rooms that we use, or gymnasiums or things that are converted conference facilities," he says. "Church just has a very different feeling."

Robert Cohen is the cellist for the Milwaukee-based Fine Arts Quartet and his On That Note segments are a regular Lake Effect feature.

Bonnie North
Bonnie joined WUWM in March 2006 as the Arts Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.
For 35 years one of the worlds leading cello soloist, Robert Cohen is an award-winning recording artist, conductor, artistic director and pedagogue who has been broadcast on TV and radio throughout the world. His passionate views on the art of learning, performing and communicating music have been widely published.