Eugene Friesen (born 1952) is an American

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Early life

Friesen was born in 1952 to

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...

parents. He is a graduate of the

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

School of Music.

Career

Friesen has been a member of the

Paul Winter Consort The Paul Winter Consort is an American musical group. Bassist Eliot Wadopian has been a member. Discography Films *''Canyon Consort'' (1985) References External linksLiving Music- Paul Winter's record label {{Authority control American j ...

since 1978, and performs with

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American multi-instrumentalist. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, Levy "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century. ...

and

Glen Velez Glen Velez (born 1949) is a four-time Grammy winning American percussionist, vocalist, and composer, specializing in frame drums from around the world. He is largely responsible for the increasing popularity of frame drums in the United States an ...

as Trio Globo. He received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

as a member of the Paul Winter Consort for the 1994 album ''Spanish Angel'' 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 Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston, Massachusetts and lives in Vermont. Among his prominent students are

Rushad Eggleston Rushad Robert Eggleston (born September 30, 1979) is an American cellist, composer, jazz vocalist, & performer. Eggleston's music can be eccentric, with many references to fantasy and goblins. Eggleston is known for inventing words, and for hi ...

Mads Tolling Mads Tolling (born July 5, 1980) is a Danish-American violinist, violist, composer and two-time Grammy Award-Winner. As a former member of the Turtle Island Quartet and bassist Stanley Clarke’s band, Tolling is today leading his own projects ...

, 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 Paul Halley (born 1952 in Romford, England) is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer. He is perhaps best known as being a member of and composer for the Paul Winter Consort. Biography Paul Halley was born in England in 1952. His father was a ...

(Living Music, 1986) * ''Arms Around You'' (Living Music, 1989) * ''The Bremen Town Musicians'' (1993) * ''Sono Miho'' (2004)

As sideman

With

Scott Cossu Scott Cossu is an American New-age music, new-age pianist. He released a large number of albums on Windham Hill between 1980 and 1992, some to considerable sales success: 1987's ''She Describes Infinity'' reached number 24 on the U.S. Billboard ma ...

* ''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 Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

* ''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 *

William Ackerman William Ackerman (born November 16, 1949) is an American guitarist and record producer who founded Windham Hill Records. Career Early years Ackerman was born in Palo Alto, California. His adoptive father was a professor of English at Stanfor ...

, ''Conferring with the Moon'' (Windham Hill, 1986) * William Ackerman, ''Meditations'' (Lifescapes/Compass, 2008) *

Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Person ...

, ''Prime Cuts from Terry Bozzio's Magna Carta Sessions'' (Magna Carta, 2005) *

Betty Buckley Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American T ...

, ''With One Look'' (Sterling, 1994) *

Oscar Castro-Neves Oscar Castro-Neves (May 15, 1940 - September 27, 2013), was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova. Biography He was born in Rio de Janeiro as one of triplets and formed a band with his br ...

, ''Oscar!'' (Living Music, 1987) *

Lui Collins Lui Collins (born 1950 in Barre (town), Vermont, Barre, Vermont) is a contemporary Folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She attended the University of Connecticut and played her first gigs as a student there. She began touring in the mid-1970s as ...

, ''Moondancer Molly'' (Gamblin Music, 1993) * Anthony Davis, ''Hemispheres'' (Gramavision, 1983) *

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

, ''Train of Thought'' (Elektra, 2003) * Flow, ''Flow'' (LMB Music, 2017) *

Charles Gross Charles Gross (born 13 May 1934) is an American film and TV composer, living in New York City. Gross, born in Boston, Massachusetts, was educated at Harvard University (BA), the New England Conservatory and Mills College (teaching fellowship), a ...

, ''Punchline'' (A&M, 1988) *

, ''Angel on a Stone Wall'' (Living Music, 1991) *

Phil Markowitz Phil Markowitz (born September 6, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York) is a jazz pianist and educator. Discography As leader * ''Sno' Peas'' (Ken Music, 1991) * ''In the Woods'' (Passsage, 1996) * ''Taxi Ride'' (Passsage, 1998) * ''Catalysis'' (Sunnyside, ...

, ''Taxi Ride'' (Passage, 1998) *

Emi Meyer Emi Meyer (born March 1987) is a Japanese-born, American-raised jazz pianist and singer-songwriter who is based in Seattle and Tokyo and active in both the Japanese and American markets. Background Meyer was born in Kyoto, Japan, but grew up in ...

, ''Monochrome'' (Origin, 2017) * Susan Osborn, ''Signature'' (Lifeline, 1983) *

Jeff Oster Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

, ''True'' (Retso, 2007) *

Alice Parker Alice Parker (born December 16, 1925) is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and teacher. She has authored five operas, eleven song-cycles, thirty-three cantatas, eleven works for chorus and orchestra, forty-seven choral suites, and ...

, ''Heavenly Hurt: Poems by Emily Dickinson'' (Gothic 2017) * Noirin Ni Riain, ''Celtic Soul'' (Living Music, 1996) *

Jordan Rudess Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American musician, software developer and composer best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experime ...

, ''Feeding the Wheel'' (Magna Carta, 2001) *

Laura Sullivan Laura Sullivan (born about 1974) is a correspondent and investigative reporter for National Public Radio (NPR). Her investigations air regularly on ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'', and other NPR programs. She is also an on-air cor ...

, ''Love's River'' (Sentient Spirit, 2013) *

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

, ''The Brasil Project, Vol. 2'' (Private Music, 1993) *

Arto Tuncboyaciyan Arto may refer to: People In the arts * Arto Halonen (born 1964), Finnish documentary filmmaker * Arto Järvelä (born 1964), Finnish fiddler and composer * Arto Lindsay (born 1953), American musician Arthur Lindsay * Arto Noras (born 1942), Finnis ...

, ''Every Day Is a New Life'' (Living Music, 2000) *

, ''Breathing Rhythms'' (Sounds True, 2000)

References

External links

Eugene Friesen recordingsEugene Friesen biography

Eugene Friesen's official siteThe Official Website of Mads TollingSonoterra Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friesen, Eugene American male composers American cellists 1952 births Living people Yale School of Music alumni Berklee College of Music faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Paul Winter Consort members American Mennonites Mennonite musicians