Stephen Cohn Creative Page

 
Stephen Cohn
 
Sibelius Consultation, Tutoring and Engraving

 
I am an Emmy Award winning composer of film and concert music. I’ve been a Sibelius Notation Software user since the program emerged and have always found it an invaluable tool for composing, orchestrating and engraving. About five years ago, I got a phone call from Lalo Schifrin asking if I would help him with Sibelius with a score he was preparing for the Chicago Symphony. He explained that there were many unusual notation issues and when he called Sibelius, they referred him to me. If you’ve heard any of his amazing film scores or concert work, you know that he is very innovative, and we pushed Sibelius to its limits. It was on this project that I discovered how much I enjoyed the challenges of problem solving with notation software. He walked away from the experience with a score that the Chicago Symphony premiered and I walked away with my own wonderful discovery. 

Since that time, I have continued to work with many talented composers in varied settings and find that our collaborations continue to be as valuable to me as it is to them. Some recent work includes the following. 

Classical Projects: include score formatting and parts for Lalo Schifrin’s Fantasy for Screenplay and Orchestra, performed by the Chicago Symphony, score preparation and parts for David Benoit’s premiere of L.A. Experience, score formatting and parts for Eduardo del Barrio’s Jazz Mass, premiered by the LA Philharmonic, score preparation for Kursk, a contemporary opera by Dorance Stalvey, my own new album for At Peace Media, Two Together, an American Folk Music Suite which recently won a “Parents’ Choice Gold Award” and was recorded in Prague, and score formatting and parts for concert a variety of music by Gordon Getty. 

Theme Park Music: Orchestration and score preparation for Daniel May’s score for Medieval Times, which we recorded in Prague. 

Game Music: Orchestration and score preparation for music for Enter The Matrix, (the video game based on The Matrix, score composed by Don Davis) recorded in Seattle. 

TV Film Music: Orchestration and score preparation for Michaels Tavera’s score for Charlotte’s Web II, recorded in Prague, 

Jazz: Consultations with jazz artists Jeff Lorber and Vince Mendoza in preparing their music for performance and recording. 
 
Pops Orchestra Music: arranging and formatting the score for a Belafonte Medley for the Florida Orchestra, many assignments with Lee Holdridge – transcriptions, formatting Sibelius scores of Lee’s arrangements and extracting orchestra parts for artists such as Placido Domingo, Neil Sedaka, the John Denver Revival project, Ronan Tynan performing with major pops orchestras and arrangements and score formatting for Mexican artist Lorena Tassinari’s CD . 

Lead Sheets: for Molly Ann Leikin and Lee Holdridge.
 
As you can see, Sibelius is useful for many forms of music, and as you can imagine, each presents its unique set of challenges and that is why I enjoy each collaboration so much. I have also found that teaching composers to learn or improve their creative skills with Sibelius is always a great pleasure for me. One of my first forays into instruction was to design a course of instruction in Sibelius which I taught at UCLA Extension and have since given private tutoring and consultations to Lalo Schifrin, David Newman, David Benoit, Jeff Lorber, Vince Mendoza, Mark Watters and many others. The Sibelius Company has made me an Ambassador and recommends me to local composers and orchestras. If I can help you…it will be my pleasure.

Samples of my Sibelius engraving are available on the side bar on the left at the top of this screen. The on-screen appearance does not represent the way they look when printed. To get a realistic view of the samples, I suggest downloading them and printing them out.

Updated:  July 5, 2010

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