Friedman performed as a saxophonist throughout the early 1960s and became a key member of the Free-Form Improvisational Ensemble with Burton Greene and Alan Silva.[2] In September 1964, the group was featured in concert at New York City's Town Hall, where Friedman's Benjamin, A Brass Quintet premiered.[3]
Friedman has co-produced and composed original material for several internationally acclaimed jazz recordings with his wife, vocalist and lyricist, Stevie Holland. Their album, Before Love Has Gone (150 Music), was chosen by USA Today as a Top CD of The Year in 2008.[10] Friedman's orchestral, operatic and dance works have been commissioned and performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Lancaster Music Festival, the Columbus Symphony, and Encompass New Opera Theatre. Ligeia, an orchestral chamber work inspired by the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, had its world premiere in October 2011 with the Pit Stop Players at The DiMenna Center for the Arts in New York City. His liturgical works include An American S'Lichot, a Hebrew choral and orchestral work that is performed annually at synagogues throughout the United States on the S’lichot holy day.
A selection of Friedman's symphonic works was recorded and released on the CD Colloquy in 2008 by 150 Music.[11]
Teaching
After completing his post-graduate studies in 1960, Friedman worked as a licensed teacher in New York City public school system. He taught an advanced course in music for film at Carnegie Mellon University in 1985 and writing for theater at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1993.
Personal life
Friedman married singer-lyricist Stevie Holland in 1999. He has two children from his first marriage to Barbara Ellen Miller, who died in 1997.
Treasure Island (book by Sherman Yellen, lyrics by Will Holt), Theatre Three, Port Jefferson, New York (2012)
Symphonic works
Mordecai (opera; libretto by Robert Reinhold), premiered at the Kosciushko Foundation, New York City (1979)
Haskalah, premiered with the Columbus Symphony, Columbus, Ohio (1984)
Waning Powers (opera; libretto by Gerald Walker), premiered at the Vineyard Theatre, New York City (1986)
The Pied Piper (ballet), commissioned and performed by Tales and Scales, choreographed by Mercedes Ellington, premiered at the Lancaster Music Festival (1994), subsequently performed with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra (1995)
Puss N' Boots (ballet), commissioned and performed by Maestro Gary Sheldon for the Lancaster Music Festival, choreographed by Melinda Baker (1998)
Teddy (operatic fable; libretto by Herb Schapiro), performed in concert with Encompass New Opera Theatre (Nancy Rhodes, director), New York City (2002)
Ligeia (chamber work), commissioned and premiered by Joshua Rosenblum for the Pit Stop Players, DiMenna Center for The Arts, New York City (2011)
Butterfly (cantata for orchestra and soloists), premiered by Cantor Jack Chomsky at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Bexley, Ohio (2014)
The Raven (chamber work), commissioned and premiered by Joshua Rosenblum for the Pit Stop Players, Saint Stephens Church, New York City (2015)
Reflections (chamber work), commissioned and premiered by The Palisades Virtuosi, at the George Frey Center For The Arts, New Jersey (2015), Recorded on Albany Records (2017)
A Dream Within A Dream (chamber work), commissioned and premiered by Joshua Rosenblum for the Pit Stop Players, Good Sheperd-Faith Presbyterian Church, New York City (2016)
Anthem (chamber work; poem by Ross Yockey), premiered by the Essex Chamber Music Players at the David Hartleb Tech Center, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, Massachusetts (2017)
