AKADEMIE FORUM: AARON COHEN

In this talk, podcast producer and presenter Aaron Cohen explores the question of how Mahler’s music can be told through an audio documentary.

Using selected excerpts from the first four series of *Embrace Everything – The World of Gustav Mahler*, he offers insights into the podcast’s creation and examines the various elements that characterise each individual episode:

When should the music speak for itself? When is a narrative framework necessary? How can conversations with musicians and academics deepen our understanding of what we hear? And how can staged readings of historical texts bring Mahler’s world to life?

By examining the individual parts of the programme, he reveals its narrative structure and demonstrates how music, the spoken word, scholarly analysis and historical accounts can be interwoven to bring to life both the ideas behind Mahler’s symphonies and the emotional and musical worlds they contain.

Aaron Cohen is an award-winning radio producer, author and presenter, as well as Director of Broadcast Operations at New York Public Radio.

In autumn 2026, he will be a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He studied at McGill University in Montreal, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music in oboe and computer applications in music. Since joining New York Public Radio in 2000, he has worked on a wide range of formats, including live programmes with listener participation, concert broadcasts, documentaries and other longer-form audio programmes.

A particular focus of his work has been on documentaries about classical music and opera. These include *The Ring & I*, an exploration of Wagner’s *Der Ring des Nibelungen* (2004), *Clash of the Titans: An Exploration of Verdi & Wagner* (2013) and *Music Is a Holy Art: A Celebration of Richard Strauss* (2014). His programmes on classical music have been broadcast by numerous renowned radio stations in the USA and Canada. He has also produced more than 50 programmes for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Cohen is the creator, presenter and producer of the award-winning, successful podcast series *Embrace Everything – The World of Gustav Mahler*, which takes a comprehensive look at Mahler’s life and music through his symphonies. Four series have been released to date, with a special series on Mahler’s *Rückert Lieder* released in July 2026.

The series combines documentary storytelling, historical sources, dramatised readings, academic perspectives and conversations with leading conductors, orchestral musicians and academics, thereby bringing Mahler’s world and his music to life.

In English

• Featuring a musical contribution by students of the Barenboim-Said Academy