Chicago native Jay Friedman says, "I was introduced to classical music by listening to old 78's of pieces by Wagner." He attended Yale University on scholarship and later majored in composition at Roosevelt University. After four years with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and two years in the Florida Symphony he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1962 and was appointed principal in 1964 by Maestro Martinon. He has been soloist with the CSO on several occasions, including a concerto by Ellen Zwilich commissioned for him by the Edward F. Schmidt Family.
Friedman recently released a solo CD entitled The Singing Trombone, which was intended to assist trombone students. Jay has taught trombone privately for many years and his students hold positions in major orchestras such as the Gothenburg Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Friedman currently serves as trombone professor and chairman of the wind department at Roosevelt University, and has been artist-in-residence at Indiana University. In the summer of 2001 he held Master Classes and performed at the International Trombone Camp in Fossano, Italy.
Active as a conductor, Jay Friedman is music director of the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest, and resident conductor of the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. In 1998, at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim, he conducted the Civic Orchestra in Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre. The Chicago Sun-Times called the performance "The best Civic concert in the past 30 years." In 2000 Jay was chosen as Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
In the spring of 2001, Jay was able to combine his passion for brass and conducting by organizing the Chicago Symphony Brass and alumni to perform a concert in Symphony Center that benefited The Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest and The Chicago Chamber Orchestra. This all-brass concert featured his own arrangement of Strauss' An Alpine Symphony, which was originally commissioned by the Grand Teton Music Festival in 1996.
