Eugene Friesen

{{short description|American cellist and composer (born 1952)}}

{{BLP sources|date=April 2009}}

Eugene Friesen (born 1952) is an American cellist and composer.

Early life

Friesen was born in 1952 to Russian Mennonite parents.{{cite web|title=An Interview with Eugene Friesen|publisher=Natasha Jaffe|url=https://natashajaffe.com/blogs/stories-of-cellists-and-cello-ensembles/posts/an-interview-with-eugene-friesen-cellist-improviser-composer-and-educator|accessdate=September 3, 2022}} He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music.{{cite web|url=http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/eugene-friesen|title=Faculty Biography: Eugene Friesen|publisher=Berklee|accessdate=22 January 2011|archive-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819101133/http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/eugene-friesen|url-status=dead}}

Career

Friesen has been a member of the Paul Winter Consort since 1978, and performs with Howard Levy and Glen Velez as Trio Globo.{{Cite web |url=http://www.celloman.com/aboutTG.html |title=Web Page Under Construction |access-date=2006-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061106195223/http://www.celloman.com/aboutTG.html |archive-date=2006-11-06 |url-status=dead }} He received a Grammy Award as a member of the Paul Winter Consort for the 1994 album Spanish Angel{{cite web|title =Spanish Angel: Review |publisher=Allmusic| url ={{AllMusic|class=album|id=spanish-angel-recorded-live-in-spain-r178375|pure_url=yes}} |accessdate =22 January 2011}} and again in 2006 for the Consort's Silver Solstice in 2007 for Crestone, and in 2011 for Miho: Journey to the Mountain. Friesen has won four Grammy Awards to date.

In 2012, Friesen's book, Improvisation for Classical Musicians was published by Berklee Press/Hal Leonard.

He teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and lives in Vermont. Among his prominent students are Rushad Eggleston, Mads Tolling, Lindsay Mac, and Nathan Leath. Friesen also runs a nonprofit production company, Sonoterra Productions, producing concerts, recordings and workshops.

Discography

=As leader=

  • New Friend with Paul Halley (Living Music, 1986)
  • Arms Around You (Living Music, 1989)
  • The Bremen Town Musicians (1993)
  • Sono Miho (2004)

=As sideman=

With Scott Cossu

  • Islands (Windham Hill, 1984)
  • Reunion (Windham Hill, 1986)
  • Switchback (Windham Hill, 1989)

With Aine Minogue

  • Celtic Meditation Music (Sounds True, 2004)
  • Celtic Lamentations (Sounds True, 2005)
  • Celtic Pilgrimage (Sounds True, 2007)
  • In the Name of Stillness (Little Miller 2017)

With Paul Winter

  • Callings (Living Music, 1980)
  • Missa GaiaEarth Mass (Living Music, 1982)
  • Canyon (Living Music, 1985)
  • Concert for the Earth (Living Music, 1985)
  • Wintersong (Living Music, 1986)
  • Whales Alive (Living Music, 1986)
  • Earthbeat (Living Music, 1987)
  • Wolf Eyes (Living Music, 1988)
  • Earth: Voices of a Planet (Living Music, 1990)
  • El Hombre Que Plantaba Arboles (Lyricon, 1993)
  • Solstice Live! (Living Music, 1993)
  • Spanish Angel (Living Music, 1993)
  • Prayer for the Wild Things (Living Music, 1994)
  • En Directo en Espana (Ediciones Resistencia 1996)
  • Journey with the Sun (Living Music, 2000)
  • Silver Solstice (Living Music, 2005)
  • Crestone (Living Music, 2007)
  • Miho: Journey to the Mountain (Living Music, 2010)

With others

References