Next preconcert talk for the Baltimore Symphony/Levine Music!

My next preconcert talk for the Baltimore Symphony and Levine Music tomorrow night at 6:30 pm at Strathmore: Jakub Hrůša (conductor) and Sergey Khachatryan (violin) and the BSO presenting a program of Janáček’s Jealousy, Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 @BaltSymphony @LevineMusic @GreyBirdMuse

Movable Home moves… East!

I’m pleased and excited that the next stage of Movable Home is almost here! Co-commissioner SONYC will perform the East Coast Premiere of my string orchestra piece on the “Jeffrey Zeigler presents” series at National Sawdust on Friday, February 12, 2016 at 8 pm. The program also includes works by friends Aaron Jay Kernis, Randy Woolf, and Reena Esmail. Tickets are available here. @NationalSawdust @jzcello @randywoolf @monikarl1 @greybirdmuse

A nice review of the NYC premiere of When The World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes!

George Grella of New York Classical Review had some very nice things to say about Andrew Gonzalez and my “fierce little viola piece!” “Joel Friedman’s solo viola work, When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes, brought more intensity and emotional darkness. This is a technically and expressively demanding piece, ably played by Andrew Gonzalez. The piece uses material from the scherzo of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a jumping-off point. Friedman puts that into minor key, adds dissonances, repeats interior fragments, then uses the same techniques to spiral into more broad-limbed writing. The obsessive and interesting, off-kilter quality of the music was apparent, even without Friedman’s remarks about the personal turmoil that marked his compositional process.” http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2016/01/schnyders-brilliant-music-sparks-rich-and-varied-here-and-now-festival/#sthash.6oTvDSAE.gbpl&st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/

My National Sawdust Debut!

I’m thrilled that on January 13th Irving M. Klein International String Competition will be presenting a concert – “A CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP” – of California-related works performed by illustrious Klein alumni INCLUDING 2 of my 2013 Klein Competition commissions “Uncle Hokum’s Fiddle” for solo violin (East Coast Premiere performed by Kevin Lin, Curtis Institute) and “When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes” for solo viola (performed by Teng Li, viola, Principal Viola, Toronto Symphony). Tickets here.

When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes hits Bargemusic’s Here and Now Festival!

My “fierce little viola piece” When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes will have its New York premiere next month January 1-4, 2016 at Bargemusic’s Here and Now Festival with the exciting young violist Andrew Gonzalez (Sphinx, Heifetz Institute). And to celebrate the occasion here’s another amazing violist Derek Smith, principal violist of New Orchestra of Washington, giving the Washington D.C. premiere at Georgetown University. Tickets are available here. Watch the video here (Film by Francisco Campos-Lopez of CinÉ/Audio Gavin Stewart).

Heading back to Stanford to teach a weekend “Beatles Intensive!”

I’m hopping a flight early tomorrow morning and heading west to  teach WSP 64 — Revolution: The Songwriting of The Beatles for Stanford University’s Continuing Studies program It’s sold out, so we’ve added a 2nd class Sunday! A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

After Glow for Elastic Band – from Washington Life’s Patrick D. McCoy!

Patrick McCoy of Washington Life Magazine reviewed New Orchestra of Washington’s performance of Elastic Band at Georgetown’s Gonda Theatre in his Perfect Pitch column! Thanks for the kind words Patrick. Those are some of my Georgetown University students towering over me. Read it here.

Scoring one for Wine Ring

How’s this for a weekend’s work: scoring the launch video for the hot internet startup Wine Ring! Wine Ring has major math under the hood that makes choosing wines easy. It’s all based on what you like, not ratings, but your preferences. I had a blast working with co-founders Pam Dillon and Andrew Sussman. Oh, that’s the company musical ID I created for them at the beginning and end too!

“KEHILLAH WELCOMES CLASSICAL COMPOSER, JOEL FRIEDMAN”

My fantastic trip back to the Bay Area for the premiere of Movable Home with Barbara Day Turner and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra ended on a high note: a chance to work with some terrific young composers in Maestro Anthony Quartuccio’s AP Music Theory class at the Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto. KEHILLAH WELCOMES CLASSICAL COMPOSER, JOEL FRIEDMAN

WOW! Movable Home has its World Premiere!!

On October 11 my new string orchestra piece Movable Home received a fantastic premiere by Artistic Director Barbara Day Turner and the San José Chamber Orchestra to kick off their 25th season. This was the 1st of the 3 performances from the commissioning consortium of  San José Chamber Orchestra, Takoma Ensemble (Victoria Gau, Artistic Director) and  SONYC (String Orchestra of New York, Monica Bauchwitz, Artistic Director). Next stop: February 12, 2016 at the new, ultra cool National Sawdust space in Brooklyn, New York!