MICHAEL FRIEDMAN 

Michael Friedman was just 11 years old when he first picked up an old guitar that had been lying around the house. He had studied piano since the age of five, but had no idea even how to hold a guitar, let alone get it in tune. But he fiddled with the tuning pegs until the strings sounded pleasant together, then laid the guitar face-up on his lap. As he strummed the instrument, Michael marveled at the rich vibrations that rose to his ears and reverberated through his body, right to the bone. Using his thumb to fret up and down the neck, he quickly locked into simple harmonies and, in beginner fashion, accompanied himself on almost every song that came to mind. What joy, what delight, and intense gratification!

Now, after many years and many miles touring as a musician across Canada and Europe, that pure joy still resonates in each of Michael's performances. These days, he re-tunes his instrument with apparent facile randomness while introducing each song until, magically, the invisible curtain rises and audiences are treated to one stunning, original work of musical and lyrical artistry after another. Exuberant musicality, instrumental virtuosity, and stirring vocals, with a knack for front-row intimacy no matter the proximity of the listener – those are signature traits of a Michael Friedman concert.

Michael was born in Vancouver to a Jewish-Canadian activist family of musicians and artists, and was raised there as well as in Berlin, Germany, and Toronto, Ontario. They saw to it that Michael study music, having him take up piano at the age of five. His parents (musician father, and actress and journalist mother) held regular musicales and hootenannies at their home. They also organized Vancouver's first concerts featuring Pete Seeger, Earl Robinson, and other well-known folk musicians – some of whom at the time were on the "undesirables list" of the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee in the U.S. Congress.

Shortly before his 11th birthday, the family moved from Canada’s West Coast to East Berlin, capital of what was then the communist German Democratic Republic. There, his father enrolled in the prestigious Hanns Eisler Conservatory of Music to study choral conducting and arrangement. It was in Berlin that the younger Friedman developed his prodigious skill and intense love for the guitar and for singing. He would soon ditch the piano lessons.

When his father completed his studies, the family returned to Canada, this time to Toronto where Michael honed his artistry and began his professional music career, and became involved in various Toronto theatre productions. Still in his teens, Michael then returned to Berlin to take formal training in guitar performance and guitar pedagogy at the same conservatory where his father had studied. Those further six years spent in Europe were a blossoming time for Michael and his touring and recording flourished.

Michael has excelled in several areas of musical endeavour in addition to live performance. As a composer, he has scored numerous television films and documentaries. Michael was also musical director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) primetime TV staple "Front Page Challenge" from 1992 util the show ended its 38-year run in 1995. He has recorded and produced and co-produced many acclaimed albums, the most recent being the lauded "Sculpted Pieces of Love" by Vancouver singer/songwriter/guitarist Bob Stark. Michael is also an accomplished music instructor, shepherding many aspiring and advanced musicians to excellence on their respective instruments and in songwriting. 

Michael toured Germany and Canada for several years with Canadian guitar maestro Don Ross. Michael and “The Wild Cellist” Corbin Keep have also revived their duo "Cello, Guitarya?," combining their unique musical and lyrical wits in performances guaranteed to lift audiences out of their seats. In Germany, Michael often shared a part of his program with the enchanting Berliner songstress, Mea.

From 1999 to 2006, Michael joined talents with singer/songwriters Mark James Fortin and Sam Masich in the folk-noir band FFM (Friedman, Fortin & Masich). The group, whose motto was "three guitars, three-part harmony, no waiting," played several Canadian and international tours and recorded two acclaimed albums, "FFM Live Plus" (2002) and "Cinematic" (2005).

In 2003, Michael began a fruitful collaboration with renowned German cellist and orchestrator/arranger Jens Naumilkat (who’d worked with Mikis Theodorakis, Maria Farantouri, German Film Orchestra, Franz Grothe String Quartet), taking Michael’s original songs to the symphonic stage in performances with several esteemed orchestras in Germany.  

Michael was invited in October 2021 to perform as part of an international ensemble in a concert dedicated to international peace. As the Jewish-Canadian participant, Michael played together with Kurdish, Syrian, Afghani, and German singer/musicians to an enthusiastic indoor crowd (at one-half capacity due to pandemic restrictions) and a considerably larger outdoor audience watching the performance on a large screen. Each of the players enjoyed the backing of a diverse group of musicians, making it a wonderfully enriching cultural experience for performers and audience alike.

Michael also has worked with the extraordinary, soul-stirring writer Alfred Roesler-Kleint, whose lyrics have fueled top German band CITY since the mid-1980s. In the summer of 2022, Michael and Kerry Galloway co-wrote the keynote song, "Wir haben Wind gesät (We Have Sown Wind)” with Roesler-Kleint, Toni Krahl, and Fritz Puppel for CITY's latest album "Die letzte Runde." The recording went to number-two on the German charts and to number-one on Amazon's German Rock charts and number-five internationally. Michael is currently collaborating with Roesler-Kleint with the intent of releasing an album of German language songs.

In October 2023, Michael will lead a four-piece band at the historic Konzerthaus Berlin. With Michael on guitar and vocals, guitarist Ed Henderson, bassist Kerry Galloway, and drummer Buff Allen will perform "Und wir schweben davon – Songs of Hope," a program of Michael's songs in three languages. Joining them on stage will be the Konzert Choir Berlin, Berliner Konzert Youth Choir, Primaner Youth Choir and Children's Choir, Lion’s Club Children’s Choir and the 60-piece Konzert Orchestra under the baton of maestro Jan Olberg.

Michael continuously tours in Canada and Europe, giving concerts and conducting guitar and songwriting workshops. He has released several acclaimed solo albums, "I Never Knew What Hit Me Until Now" (1995), "Angst Ridden Writer" (1998), "Diamond Space" (2006), and "Random Acts of Tuning" (2016).