Musician, medium, priestess. For Maya Fridman (1989), these words mean virtually the same thing. Music is magic, she believes. And as a performer, she enjoys taking her audience to that other, magical world. This is how she turns each concert into an almost religious ritual.
Upon reflection, there are two Mayas. The classical Maya studied cello in Russia and the Netherlands. She won the Dutch Classical Talent Award in 2019, a reliable measure of musical mastery. Here was a cellist who had more up her sleeve than the conventional repertoire. She was offered a residency at the Utrecht concert hall TivoliVredenburg. The Gaudeamus and November Music festivals also gave her free rein. She played the cello and sang, mumbled and screamed, lit candles and evoked scents.
And gradually, a second Maya emerged: the alternative. She writes her own lyrics and music as a singer-songwriter. In 2023, her first alternative album, The Power of Indifference, was released on her home label TRTPK. Listen to how she wanders through far-flung musical regions, from electronic to gothic and pop. Listen to how she whispers lyrics like in a fever dream. Ask her to describe that alternative world, and she says: ‘dark…’
But she doesn’t turn her back on the real world. For example, she enjoys working with other artists. This could be a composer like Jan-Peter de Graaff, whose cello concerto The Forest in April she premiered. Or Tomoko Mukaiyama, the piano fashionista. Or LudoWic, an audiovisual wizard.
And sometimes the world violently intrudes into her life. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, she organized benefit concerts. She founded the TRIDA foundation, to help artists in need. In addition, there is a Maya Fridman Foundation, for adventurous, multidisciplinary projects. And then she is also working on a dissertation. Subject: the ritualization of concert practice. Because everything converges with Maya Fridman. Musician, medium, priestess.
Maya Fridman
Musician, medium, priestess. For Maya Fridman (1989), these words mean virtually the same thing. Music is magic, she believes. And as a performer, she enjoys taking her audience to that other, magical world. This is how she turns each concert into an almost religious ritual.
Upon reflection, there are two Mayas. The classical Maya studied cello in Russia and the Netherlands. She won the Dutch Classical Talent Award in 2019, a reliable measure of musical mastery. Here was a cellist who had more up her sleeve than the conventional repertoire. She was offered a residency at the Utrecht concert hall TivoliVredenburg. The Gaudeamus and November Music festivals also gave her free rein. She played the cello and sang, mumbled and screamed, lit candles and evoked scents.
And gradually, a second Maya emerged: the alternative. She writes her own lyrics and music as a singer-songwriter. In 2023, her first alternative album, The Power of Indifference, was released on her home label TRTPK. Listen to how she wanders through far-flung musical regions, from electronic to gothic and pop. Listen to how she whispers lyrics like in a fever dream. Ask her to describe that alternative world, and she says: ‘dark…’
But she doesn’t turn her back on the real world. For example, she enjoys working with other artists. This could be a composer like Jan-Peter de Graaff, whose cello concerto The Forest in April she premiered. Or Tomoko Mukaiyama, the piano fashionista. Or LudoWic, an audiovisual wizard.
And sometimes the world violently intrudes into her life. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, she organized benefit concerts. She founded the TRIDA foundation, to help artists in need. In addition, there is a Maya Fridman Foundation, for adventurous, multidisciplinary projects. And then she is also working on a dissertation. Subject: the ritualization of concert practice. Because everything converges with Maya Fridman. Musician, medium, priestess.
Discography
Ordo Ritualis: Black Edition
Maya Fridman
Coming soon
TRPTK | TTK0100Ordo Ritualis: White Edition
Maya Fridman
Coming soon
TRPTK | TTK0100TRPTK nine-year anniversary sampler
Various Artists
Into Eternity
Marion von Tilzer
Bella Adamova
Maya Fridman
Belinfante Quartet
Michael Hesselink
Jacobus Thiele
The Power of Indifference
Maya Fridman
Once for me there was no more place (Single)
Maya Fridman
Konstantyn Napolov
Snake (Single)
Maya Fridman
I Think About Fate (Single)
Maya Fridman
Nuït
Maya Fridman
Maarten van Veen
De Graaff: The Forest in April
Maya Fridman
North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Sander Teepen
Nicolò Foron
Ten Songs of Change
Marion von Tilzer
Maya Fridman
This Is Not A Lullaby
Channa Malkin
Dareyn
Emine Bostancı
Maya Fridman
Jacobus Thiele
Obscure Atlas
Helena Basilova
Konstantyn Napolov
Maya Fridman
Silent City
Merel Vercammen
Maya Fridman
REIÐ
Maya Fridman
The Zoo
Merel Vercammen
A Fearful Fairy Tale
Helena Basilova
Shalygin: Canti d’inizio e fine
Maya Fridman
The Scent of Persia
Arezoo Rezvani
Farid Sheek
Maya Fridman
The Fiery Angel
Maya Fridman
Artem Belogurov
Red Velvet
Maya Fridman
Elegy
Aeon Trio
The Invisible Link
Maya Fridman
Daniël Kool