Erick Friedman

Many classical enthusiasts wonder what might have been had Erick Friedman, child prodigy and one of America's most talented violinists, made some different career choices. By the age of 17 Friedman had already established himself as one of the leading young players of his time. Pundits had tipped him to be the next Jascha Heifetz and the young violinist had the world of classical music at his feet. Instead of capitalising on the success he had already achieved, Friedman controversially put his career on hold (at a time when he was performing 80-plus concerts a year) and went to study under Heifetz. After a three-year performing hiatus Friedman relaunched his career and signed to RCA. It was during this period Friedman recorded two of his most acclaimed pieces of work, Bach's 'Double Concerto' (performed with Hiefetz) in 1961 and Prokofiev's 'First Concerto' recorded in 1964. In 1966 Friedman entered the International Tchaikovsky Competition held in Moscow but despite high expectations of a good result he only managed to tie for sixth place. Most artists would have seen this as a creditable result but a performer of Friedman's calibre could only view it as a failure. It was a severe blow to his confidence and his career never regained the momentum of the early years. He began teaching to fill his time, and after a car accident in 1989 effectively ended his performing career, teaching was all he had left and he continued tutoring future musicians at Yale until his death from a cancer related illness in 2004.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.