Ansel Cohen is a New Jersey–based freelance cellist whose work spans chamber music, orchestral performance, theater, film scoring, and contemporary recording projects. Drawn to both traditional and modern forms of musical expression, he has performed at iconic New York venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Barclays Center.

His cello can be heard in films including Indignation, Christmas Cowboy, Duke and the Buffalo, A Different Sun, and Inspector Ike. On screen, he appeared in Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper and centered on the life of Leonard Bernstein. As a live performer he has shared the stage with Fuerza Regida, Sofia Carson, Mark O’Connor, Ruff Ryders, Kimberley Locke, and Josh Groban. As a recording artist he has worked on the music for Sky Ferreira, Roy Blair, Jesse Harris, and Wild Nothing, among others.

Ansel began playing cello in Fort Myers, Florida, before continuing his training at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. His studies later took him to Florida State University, Berklee College of Music, and Brooklyn College, where he received the De Los Mederos Award for excellence in contemporary music. He gives thanks to many private teachers- Ross Harbaugh, Marion Feldman, Seth Parker Woods, Greg Sauer, Owen Young, Mike Block, and Nicholas Canellakis.

Though classically trained, Ansel is most inspired by groove-based music, improvisation, and pushing the cello into new creative spaces.