French-American Conductor
Lina Coen was a French-American musician of Dutch descent, celebrated as a pianist, vocal coach, and trailblazing conductor. She holds the distinction of being the first woman in the United States to conduct an opera.
Coen graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris, where she studied piano under Élie-Miriam Delaborde. Her first known concert took place in 1896 at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen, where, at just 17 years old, she performed Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11 and Mendelssohn’s Capriccio Brillant with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Frans Mannstädt. Soon after, she moved to Berlin, where she performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic under Josef Řebíček.
In addition to her work as a performer, Coen explored composition. Between 1896 and 1906, three of her works were published in Paris in the Pensée: pour piano series.
Coen gained significant recognition as a collaborative pianist and répétiteur. By 1908, she was accompanying Alexander Heinemann on tours through the Netherlands and England. Her New York debut came in January 1915 at Carnegie Hall, where she accompanied soprano Olive Fremstad. She later became the official pianist for Leon Rothier of the Metropolitan Opera, touring Canada and beyond.
Coen broke new ground as a conductor. In 1917, the New York Review recognized her as the first woman in the U.S. to conduct an opera, following her leadership of Carmen at the Garden Theatre. Her conducting career continued in 1921 when she collaborated with Leon M. Kramer to conduct La Juive at the Lexington Opera House in New York. This performance, under the auspices of the Jewish American Opera Company, marked the first time a grand opera was performed in Yiddish in the U.S.
In the following years, Coen shifted her focus to vocal coaching, a role in which she excelled. In 1943, she joined the University of Miami School of Music as a vocal trainer. The culmination of her conducting career came in 1944 when she served as musical director for Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, presented by the University of Miami.
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