Patrick Cohen-Akenine started playing the violin at the age of four.  He won a 'Premier Prix d'Excellence' at the Regional Conservatoire in Rueil-Malmaison before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, specialising in chamber music and devoting himself in particular to string quartets.  He was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest quartets (the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Cleveland, Fine-Arts and Guarneri), and went to study in Hungary on the advice of Vilmos Tatraï.  His work was rewarded by a prize from the Ministère de la Culture and a special prize at the Evian Competition.  In 1989 he also won several prizes (the Young Soloists Competition at Douai, the Gérard Poulet Competition at Vichy the first prize in the Epernay Competition).

Devoted to ancient music, Patrick Cohen-Akenine studied the baroque violin at the Paris Conservatoire with Patrick Bismuth, obtaining his Premier Prix in 1996;  he went on to study, and perform,  with Enrico Gatti.  He was already playing in ensembles and as a soloist in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Greece, Scandanavia, the US and Canada, at the French May in Hong Kong and in the Sydney Festival.

After working frequently with Les Musiciens du Louvre, he is now often engaged as leader for Les Arts Florissants, Les Talens Lyriques, Il Seminario Musicale, the Ricercar Consort, Le Poème Harmonique, La Simphonie du Marais and Capriccio Stravagante.  From 1994 to 2002 he was leader of the Concert Spirituel, which he directed from time to time (in Delalande's and J Michel's  Leçons de Ténèbres, and in recordings of cantatas and sonatas by Clérambault), and he took part in all the recordings of that period.  He has recorded some twenty CDs, also as leader, for a large number of French ensembles, and in Belgium for Les Agrémens (symphonies and sinfonia concertante by FJ Gossec, Grétry operatic arias and Pieltain violin concerto).

In 2000, Patrick Cohen-Akenine decided to found Les Folies Françoises, in order to perform a large range of baroque music as chamber music;  it is therefore entirely natural for him to direct his orchestra from within.  They have performed Bach concertos with Enrico Gatti, Vivaldi concertos with Anner Bylsma.  Between 2000 and 2004 Les Folies Françoises and Patrick Cohen-Akenine have given over one hundred concerts.

In December 2003 he was invited by the Orchestrre des Pays de Savoie to conduct a series of concerts, with the specific aim of helping modern instrumentalists  to interpret baroque music.  In May 2004 the Lebanese National Symphony in Beirut invited him to work with them on Charpentier's Te Deum and Beatus Vir.  In July 2004 William Christie engaged him as leader of Les Arts Florissants for the Aix-en-Provence Festival production of Handel's Hercules, revived the following December at the Paris Opera.  In 2005, Philippe Herreweghe also asked him to lead his orchestra to play Bach.

A qualified violin teacher, Patrick Cohen-Akenine established a baroque violin class at the Charles Munch Conservatoire in Paris in 1996.  He currently teaches at the Ecole National de Musique in Orsay.