FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 29, 2018 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 59
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90-year-old Douglaston composer debuts newest piece
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Age hasn’t slowed down 90-year-old
composer James Cohn, who just debuted
his newest musical creation this week.
Th e Juilliard-trained composer and
Douglaston resident had the honor
of premiering his Sonata No. 3 at the
Douglaston Tuesday Morning Music
Club on Nov. 27.
A few dozen music enthusiasts gathered
to listen to Cohn’s piece, which
was performed by renowned violinist
Eric Grossman and his wife, pianist
Lida Grossman. According to Cohn, the
piece was written specifi cally for the couple
with whom the composer has been
friends for a number of years.
“Th is wonderful violinist and his wife,
I wrote this Sonata for them. I’ve known
them for a long time and both of us Eric
Grossman and I started and graduated
at Juilliard. He is a terrifi c musician and
what you heard today is just a chunk of
what he is capable of,” said Cohn.
Following their performance, Eric
Grossman shared the story of how he
became acquainted with James Cohn and
his wife Eileen Cohn through his chamber
music series called Th e Cosmopolitan
Chamber Players.
“Th e woman who was in charge of it,
Rita Asin, introduced me to some of the
most important people in my life: my wife
Lita and James and Eileen Cohn,” said
Eric Grossman, who added that was excited
to record the newest Sonata for a wider
audience to hear.
Since 1921, the Tuesday Morning
Music Club (TMMC) has met up at
the Community Church of Douglaston
on the fourth Tuesday of the month
from October through May (excluding
December) to “enhance the cultural life
of its membership and community by
presenting the fi nest of music works and
performers.”
According to Eileen Cohn, her husband’s
music has been performed at
TMMC for the past seven years, which
is also around the time that he became
a regular member of the group. She
recalled that he was asked to join about
25 years ago, but was not able to due to
his full-time job at Th e American Society
of Composers, Authors and Publishers
(ASCAP).
Other performances included a medley
of original songs and Christmas standards
by guitarist Edmond and mezzo soprano
vocalist Carol Nicodemi, as well as a
Claude Debussy performance by pianist
Hiroko Miyake Dutton.
James Cohn, who has written four
string quartets, six piano sonatas and
nine symphonies, among other works,
said that he is already working on his next
piece, which is a double concerto for violin,
viola and orchestra for the concertmaster
of Altoona Symphony Orchestra.
He said that he likes to keep busy by
writing music and referenced the Latin
phrase “furor scribendi” — enthusiasm
for writing — to describe his attitude
toward his craft .
“I always feel that music is the intersection
of logic and emotion; you need
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
James Cohn.
both,” said Cohn.
Th e next meeting of the Tuesday
Morning Music Club will be on Tuesday,
Jan. 22, 2019, at 11 a.m.
‘Santa’s Corner’ in Whitestone back with larger-than-life Christmas display
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
A Whitestone house, which is known to
locals as “Santa’s Corner,” is back with its
larger-than-life display just in time for the
holiday season aft er homeowner Kevin
Lynch took a decorating hiatus last year.
Th is year, Lynch was joined by his
15-year-old son Timothy, whom Kevin
cites as his biggest motivation to adorn
the house at 166-04 23rd Ave. this year.
“My son Timothy fi nally said he was
gonna come out and help me and that was
a big boost for me,” said Kevin Lynch, a
retired fi refi ghter. “So he pushed me and
I said, ‘Let’s go.’”
“I just missed it last year and I convinced
him to do it this year,” said
Timothy Lynch, who is currently a sophomore
at Holy Cross High School in
Flushing. Kevin Lynch added that his
son’s friends, who have been coming to
see the house since childhood, were also a
motivating factor.
For the past 20 years, Kevin Lynch has
been decking out his entire house with
dazzling decorations, which include thousands
of lights, playful fi gurines and a
projection of Santa Claus sneaking past a
top-fl oor window. His decorating prowess
even helped him to win ABC’s “Great
Christmas Light Fight” competition in
2013.
But in 2017, Lynch decided that it was
time to take a break “to see other people’s
Christmas displays that I never get
to see.” He’s friends with “big decorators”
on Long Island and in other states and
was happy he was able to enjoy their displays
last year.
Lynch also cited safety concerns as reasons
for why he took last Christmas off .
“Th e traffi c was totally insane and 20
years doing this, no one’s ever gotten
hurt, but there were kids running in
the street,” said Lynch. “Parents weren’t
watching their kids and I couldn’t control
the traffi c. But this year, the 109th
Precinct, the community aff airs offi cer
promised me that on the weekends he’s
gonna have some help here, which is
great.”
Th e homeowner boasted that his son
pitched in and put up “about half” of the
decorations this year, which took them
seven weeks.
“We had a couple of bad days. I’m getting
a little slower in age and he had
school, so he couldn’t help me until he got
out of school.”
Timothy Lynch said that his favorite
part of the house is the left side, which
features a glass display box that the teen
put together over the course of six days.
Th e box contains over a hundred moving
fi gurines that depict familiar winter
scenes, houses and miniature amusement
park rides.
One of Kevin Lynch’s most asked questions
about his house is how much his
electric bill costs during the Christmas
season.
“I’ll gladly go in and get it. If you see
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
it, you pay it,” he said. “So in 20 years no
one’s wanted to see the bill. It’s not about
the money; I just do it.”
Lynch added that he and his son are
not completely fi nished putting up decorations
and will probably be done by
the middle of next week. His favorite
part of the experience is the community
aspect and seeing the children’s enjoyment
every year.
“I come out and see all the kids and
everything, I can’t say anything bad. Th e
joy on their faces, kids running around,
the community having a good time,” he
said.
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