Bang on a Can

David Friend is quickly establishing a reputation as one of the more adventurous young pianists in New York. His omnivorous approach has seen him featured in traditional concerts, sound installations, multimedia collaborations, and shows in rock venues. Recent performances include those with the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble in a sold-out concert at Lincoln Center, a recital of Frederic Rzewski’s theatrical masterpiece De Profundis at the Riverside Church in New York, and a concert with the Conservatory Project at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, David Friend equally relishes working with established and young emerging composers. These range from Pulitzer prizewinners, such as Charles Wuorinen and David Lang, to the composers of the countless premieres he has performed by students at the Manhattan School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Bang on a Can Summer Residency. To celebrate the Messiaen centennial Mr. Friend was featured as soloist in the Oiseaux Exotiques chamber concerto in the Aspen music tent last summer, and he was also the soloist in the New York premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s Concerto No. 1 in a performance that critics described as “magical.” With an abiding interest in pushing the boundaries of musical performance, Mr. Friend has mounted numerous multimedia productions, most notably with innovative dance-theatre troupe danceimprints. At Bang on a Can’s Summer Residency, he played with genre-busting musicians such as Don Byron and Iva Bittova. He has worked with chamber music groups of every conceivable constellation, with orchestras, singers, theatrical works, and film scores. He is also a founding member of TRANSIT, a Brooklyn-based new music collective dedicated to revitalizing the concert experience for a quickly globalizing world. David Friend is currently enjoying a busy season. Upcoming concerts include those for Issue Project Room and the MATA festival with TRANSIT, as well as solo engagements and the pilot of a new workshop for young pianists on extended technique and contemporary programming at McNeese University in Louisiana.