Erick Friedman

Erick Friedman (August 14, 1939 – March 30, 2004) is considered by many as one of the greatest American born violinists of the past century. Erick Friedman's illustrious career took him to many of the great concert stages of the world appearing as guest soloist with most of the great orchestras throughout the United States and abroad: the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony, the orchestras of New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Miami, Detroit, Indianapolis, the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and many other major orchestras throughout the world. Karajan, Stokowski, Steinberg, Leinsdorf, Previn, and Ozawa are some of the celebrated conductors with whom he collaborated with. Mr. Friedman's recordings for RCA Victor earned him accolades including the prestigious Grammy Award. Mr. Friedman has been featured playing the Bartók Violin Concerto in an A&E Television Production on Bartók which was released worldwide. His tribute to Fritz Kreisler is available on VHS at online vendors including Amazon. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Isadore Freed, Ezra Laderman, and Laurent Petitgirard are some of the internationally celebrated composers who wrote and/or dedicated compositions to him. Erick Friedman studied at The Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian. At age fourteen he began studies with Nathan Milstein and later worked with the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz with whom he recorded the Bach Double Violin Concerto for RCA Victor. Mr. Friedman and Mr. Heifetz can be seen performing the Bach Double in the 1962 TV series Heifeitz Masterclass. In the early 1970s, Mr. Friedman was on the violin faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts. He later held faculty positions at the Manhattan School of Music, Southern Methodist University, and the Yale School of Music.
Friedman was the recipient of the 2000 Ignace J. Paderewski Award for Distinguished Contributions to Society and Culture.
Mr. Friedman died of cancer on March 30, 2004.