Max Friedman is a composer, trumpet player, Yiddishist, translator, and educator based in Memphis, TN. His composition “Butter-Lider,” for Yiddish poetry recordings and sextet, was commissioned and premiered (Dec. 2022) by Cleveland’s No Exit New Music Ensemble. Other compositions have been performed by Yarn/Wire, the Lydian String Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Brown University Orchestra, and the Boston-based Horizon Ensemble. An advanced Yiddish student and translator, Max was a 2021 Steiner Program Fellow at the Yiddish Book Center, and in 2022 attended the YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Yiddish Summer Program. He has also presented at conferences hosted at Indiana University, Brandeis University, and the University of Toronto, and he is a 2023 Fortunoff/In Geveb Fellow. Max holds degrees in music composition and political science from Brown University and Brandeis University, and currently is a 1L at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphries School of Law. He is the founder of Moyshele’s Merry Mishpokhe, a family “klezzical” ensemble in Memphis.
LIST OF WORKS
All Performance Materials Available Upon Request
©AsherRose Music
FIXED MEDIA
Fish Mysteries (2021)
ENSEMBLE WITH ELECTRONICS
Butter-lider (2022) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, and fixed media
Premiere of Mvt. 5 by Hub New Music, Brandeis University, Apr. 2022
Premiere of full composition by No Exit New Music Ensemble, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH, Dec. 2022
Nocturne for the Endless Void (2021) for two percussionists, two pianists, and live electronics
Premiere by Yarn/Wire, Brandeis University, Feb. 2022
ORCHESTRA
Exospheres (2020) for large orchestra
Premiere by the Brown University Orchestra, directed by Mark Seto, Providence RI, Nov. 2021
Horizons (2021) for string orchestra
Premiere by the Horizon Ensemble, directed by Julian Gau, Boston MA, June 2021
CHOIR
Time isn’t real. (2021) for chamber choir
Recording Session by Ekmeles, April 2021
VOICE AND ENSEMBLE
The Lake (2018) for voice, trumpet, and piano; text by Edgar Allan Poe (1827)
Performance by Dr. John St. Marie (tenor), Dr. Matthew Swihart (trumpet), and Dr. Richard Jeric (piano), Faculty Recital, Nicholls State University, February 2020
CHAMBER ENSEMBLE (2-6 PLAYERS)
aroyskumen (2020) for string quartet
Premiere by Lydian String Quartet, Brandeis University, May 2021
Ars Supernova (2019) for flexible ensemble
as bright as the new moon. (2021) for brass quintet
Recording Session by Evil Manners Brass Quintet, Memphis, Nov. 2022
Dress British, Think Yiddish (2018) for clarinet, harp, viola, and percussion
Award-Winning Composition, Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, University Division, 2019-2020
Premiere by Ensemble Dal Niente at Brown University, February 2018
Grepsl (2018) for flute, clarinet, and bassoon
Premiere by SHEarWINDS, Memphis Symphony Orchestra Wind Trio, March 2019
Lox and Bagatelles (2018) for clarinet quintet
Dedicated to Abbye Friedman
Premiere by Oberlin Conservatory Clarinet Studio, December 2018
Nigun (2023) for clarinet and piano
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (2018)
Premiere (Mvt. 1, Mvt. 2-3) by Rena Feller (clarinet) and Susan Snyder (piano), Rhodes College, March 2018
Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano (2020)
SOLO PLAYER
Nebular Yelp (2019) for trumpet solo
Recording Session by Max Friedman (trumpet), and Mark Woodring (Audio/Video)
Piano Sonata (2018)
Rock and a Hard Place (2017) for electric violin solo
Premiere by Tracy Silverman, Brown University, December 2017
Tardigrade (2016) for euphonium solo
Viciss-etudes (2021) for piano solo
Dedicated to Andrew Cannestra