Arnold Friedman Image

Image by Richard Melde

Arnold Friedman

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Berklee Online
Composition
Screen Scoring
afriedman@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-8185
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Dr. Arnold Friedman is a composer and cellist with the Friedman-Melde duo, which has performed throughout the US East Coast as well as in Italy and France. A specialist in choral and instrumental composition for young musicians, Friedman has recently been commissioned by orchestras and choirs in Rome, Italy, and Arlington, Virginia. A faculty member of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, since 2004, he chaired Berklee’s composition department from 2012 to 2016. In 2024, Berklee awarded him the Ted Pease Excellence in Teaching Award. He has also taught on the music faculties of the University of North Texas and Western Oregon University. Friedman’s professional cello performances include the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Boston’s Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, as well as Boston's new music ensembles Dinosaur Annex and the microtonal ensemble NotaRiotous. Of Friedman’s compositions, composer Libby Larsen has written, “His ideas are visionary and his ability to articulate what is in his mind and heart through his compositions is extraordinary.”

Career Highlights
  • Recent composition premieres in Nice, France and at Festival of New American Music
  • Former faculty member at the University of North Texas and Western Oregon University
  • Cellist with the Dallas Opera Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, and Rhode Island Philharmonic
  • Composition commissions from the Cleveland Duo and James Umble, ExtensionWorks, and the University of North Texas Dance Department
  • Master classes and lectures at the University of Hawaii, Tufts University, and Bowling Green State University
  • Performance with Melde and Friedman Bass-Cello Duo, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Dinosaur Annex, and Calumet Quintet
  • Compositions performed by Centro Sperimentale Musicale per Infanzia in Rome, Italy; Esterhazy String Quartet; and Cleveland Duo and James Umble
  • Composition studies with Martin Mailman, Larry Austin, and William Bolcom
  • Cello studies with Carter Enyeart, Leslie Parnas, Nina de Verich, Zara Nelsova, Jerome Jelinek, and John Ehrlich
Awards
  • Berklee's Ted Pease Excellence in Teaching Award, 2024
Education
  • University of North Texas
    Texas
    Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
    Music Theory and Composition
  • University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
    Michigan
    Master of Music (MM)
    Cello Performance
  • Drake University
    Iowa
    Bachelor of Music (BM)
    Cello Performance
In Their Own Words
I want my students to leave my classes full of excitement to use the new knowledge that they have gained, confident in their ability to apply it, and eager to expand on it in their own creative way.

Every musical interaction I've experienced—rehearsals, performances, lectures and discussions, or simply listening—has presented an opportunity to learn and grow my own musicianship. So it is with teaching, and I strive to bring that level of passionate curiosity into my classrooms and lessons.

An example would be the process of composing the percussion parts for my cantata "Plastic Lives," where close collaboration with the percussionists taught me invaluable lessons about the possibilities of percussion instruments, and the best ways to notate percussion music. That experience has strengthened my teaching of percussion composition immeasurably.