FRIDMAN, Maya

Fridman was born in Moscow in 1989 and has been playing the cello since she was six. Her search for new music and experiments led her to Amsterdam, where she graduated cum laude at the Conservatory in 2016. Fridman plays in various ensembles and collaborations, including a duo with Gagi Petrovic (cello, live electronics and two voices), jazz trio Aeon Trio, various projects with singer-songwriter Jyoti Verhoeff and as a guest musician with the German folk band Faun.

She released three albums on the Utrecht label TRPTK in 2017 and 2018: The Invisible Link with pieces by Alfred Schnittke, Pēteris Vasks and Arvo Pärt; Red Velvet with pieces by Karen Tanaka, Gaspar Cassadó and Kaveh Vares, who wrote the title piece especially for Fridman; and most recently The Fiery Angel, an adaption of the opera of the same name by Profokiev for cello and piano.

During her residency at Gaudeamus, Fridman collaborated among many others with composer Maxim Shalygin, which resulted in a new piece for solo cello: Canti d’inizio e fine. A monumental cycle of 7 songs for cello (and voice) on the themes of birth, life and death. Together with the Japanese pianist, visual artist, composer and director Tomoko Mukaiyama, Fridman made a musical-theatrical adaptation of Alfred Schnittke’s Peer Gynt for cello and piano.