Biographies

Joel Cohen

In early 2007, Joel Cohen and a group of associates incorporated the Camerata Mediterranea as a non-profit association located in Chaville, France, near Paris.

Mr. Cohen is a leading authority in the field of medieval and Renaissance musical performance. He has received widespread acclaim as performer, conductor, and writer/commentator in his chosen field, and his unique style of program building has made the Boston Camerata ensemble famous on five continents.

Mr. Cohen studied composition at Harvard University. Awarded a Danforth Fellowship, he spent the next two years in Paris as a student of Nadia Boulanger. He has taught and lectured at many East Coast universities, including Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, and Amherst. Abroad, he has given seminars and workshops at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, at the Royal Opera of Brussels, in Spain, Singapore, and Japan. With soprano Anne Azéma, he has co-directed an annual workshop in medieval song in Coaraze, France. His professional honors include membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the Erwin Bodky award in early music, the Signet Society medal from Harvard, the Georges Longy Award, and the Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement in early music. He is an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.

In 1990, Mr. Cohen founded a new ensemble, the Camerata Mediterranea, devoted to the performance of early-music repertoires from the Mediterranean basin. The ensemble's initial tour season took place in France, Italy, Spain, and Morocco; further tours from 1992 to 2004 brought the group's music to audiences in France, the United States, Morocco, Germany, and Holland. Jointly with the Moroccan musician Mohammed Briouel, Mr. Cohen was awarded the Edison Prize in 2000 for the Camerata Mediterranea's recording of Cantigas by King Alfonso el Sabio.

Yasmina Kamal

Ms. Kamal began her career in Arts Administration as Executive Assistant to The Boston Camerata in 2005. Since then she has developed her project coordination skills through non-profit, for-profit, volunteer, contract, free-lance and international work with such organizations as Harvard University, AmeriCorps, the Passim Folk Music and Cultural Center and the University of Tennessee. She was thrilled to accept the position of North American Project Coordinator with Camerata Mediterranea in November of 2006.

In 2007 Ms. Kamal co-founded The Boston Performing Artists for Peace with Joel Cohen, and coordinated a benefit concert for civilian refugees on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli Conflict, raising over $4,500.00 in relief funds. As a charter member of Camerata Mediterranea Institute, she has experienced great joy in helping to create an organization that encourages intercultural conversation. And with multi-cultural parents and a family that spans four continents, she understands the dire importance of such dialogue on a very personal level.

A native of small-town New England, Ms. Kamal currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. She is working toward a double-degree in Arts Administration and International Relations at Simmons College, and looks forward to a long and meaningful career with Camerata Mediterranea.