Dr. Darryl Friesen, pianist, joins teaching staff at Providence College.
The Providence College Music Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Darryl Friesen will be teaching piano at Providence this coming fall semester.
Dr. Friesen has been praised for his “rich palette of tonal colour” and performances of “intimate, poignant simplicity” (Winnipeg Free Press, 2008). Friesen recently completed his DMA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. He began his studies with Darrel Loewen at the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts, and then moved on to the University of Manitoba, receiving both his BMus and MMus degrees in piano performance as a student of well-known Canadian pianist, David Moroz.
He has given acclaimed performances as a soloist and collaborative artist across Canada, the United States, Europe, and China, and has been featured several times in concert on CBC Radio. He has recently been featured on both the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society and Virtuosi concert series, and in February 2008 he made his professional orchestral debut with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, performing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 and the second movement of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7.
Friesen was awarded substantial grants by the Canada Council of the Arts in both 2005 and 2006, including the coveted Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, given annually to the most talented Canadian classical artist under the age of 30. He was the grand prizewinner of the 2003 CBC Arts Encounters Young Performers Competition, a finalist in the International Stepping Stone Competition (2004) and Canadian Music Competition (2001), received the Lawrence Genser Memorial Scholarship (2002) as the most outstanding performer at the University of Manitoba School of Music, and received numerous grants from the Manitoba Arts Council throughout his studies.
Dr. Friesen is in demand as a teacher, clinician, and collaborative artist. He and his wife live with their two daughters in Winnipeg, where he maintains an active studio and works at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Music.
Providence College is located in Otterburne, MB and offers a values-based university education in the context of a vibrant Christian community within the evangelical tradition.
