The Australian conductor Brad Cohen graduated at St John's College, Oxford, thereafter spending a year studying with Sergiu Celibidache and Leonard Bernstein. He made his début in London in 1992 at the Almeida Festival, and in 1994 won first prize at the Leeds Conductors' Competition, subsequently appearing at concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted at the festivals of Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Cheltenham and Oxford. As an opera conductor he has a wide repertoire, appearing in London and Australia, with a particular interest in Italian repertoire. He is also closely concerned with contemporary music, directing ensemble pieces by Frank Zappa and collaborating with contemporary composers, including Georges Lentz and Ross Edwards. For Rossini in Wildbad he has conducted Armida, Tancredi and Le Comte d'Ory.