American Violin Virtuoso Erick Friedman Died in 2004

American violinist Erick Friedman passed away from cancer on this day, aged 64

A student of Ivan Galamian, Nathan Milstein and Jascha Heifetz, American violinist Erick Friedman is remembered as one of the most gifted violinists of the twentieth century.

Friedman's abilities on the violin were recognized early: he went to Juilliard at age 10 and made his New York debut aged 14. A few years later, he recorded Bach's Concerto for Two Violins alongside Jascha Heifetz, with whom he had just started studying.

Friedman cultivated a stellar solo career and regularly appeared with many of the major orchestras. Tragically, however, he was forced to retire from the concert stage aged just 45, after sustaining an arm injury in a car accident.

Following this setback, he reinvented himself as a pedagogue and went on to serve an influential teaching career on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Southern Methodist University, and Yale School of Music.

Friedman gave many of his performances on the "Ludwig" Stradivarius of 1724 and he also made a number of recordings on this instrument. In 1996, he was the recipient of the GRAMMY Award for the best historical album for "The Heifez Collection".