Long Bio
Godwin Friesen has felt at home on the stage since performing regularly in the Friesen Family Band as a child, singing and playing various instruments along with his parents and siblings. While this profound musical development took place through several Canadian tours and three album recordings, he also began formal piano studies around age seven.
This year, Godwin won the OSM Competition with his performance of Piano Concerto No. 3 by Prokofiev with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. He also received the prize for the best interpretation of the imposed Canadian work. In 2015, Godwin placed first in piano at the National Music Festival. In 2019 he won the Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition. Last June he won second prize at the PianoArts North American Competition in Milwaukee having previously earned Best Performance of a Composition by Bach and the Audience Communication Award.
Godwin has performed concertos with several other orchestras including the Milwaukee, Regina, and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras. In one recital at The Glenn Gould School, Godwin performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with an orchestra of twenty-two friends that he conducted from the piano, and also premiered his composition for piano quartet, The Skies Proclaim. In September Godwin participated in the Trondheim International Chamber Music Academy in Norway as a member of the Mykola Trio, with whom he won first prize at The Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition.
Godwin’s compositions have been performed by a youth orchestra, a children’s choir and other small ensembles. He premiéred his newest composition, a fugue, in one of the rounds of the OSM Competition.
Godwin received both a bachelor’s degree and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School, where he studied with John O’Conor from 2016 to 2022. Godwin continues to perform in a range of styles with his family members, most of whom are also serious musicians. He is now pursuing a master’s degree at the Université de Montréal as a student of Henry Kramer.
November 2022
Short Bio
Godwin Friesen grew up making music with his eight-person family, touring Canada and recording three albums. In 2022, he won the OSM Competition, performing a concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. In 2015 he placed first in piano at the National Music Festival and in 2019 he won The Glenn Gould School (GGS) Concerto Competition. Last June, he won second prize at the PianoArts North American Competition in Milwaukee having also earned Best Performance of a Composition by Bach. Godwin has performed concertos with several other orchestras including the Milwaukee, Regina, and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras, as well as an orchestra of his fellow students whom he directed from the piano. This fall his piano trio, which recently won the GGS Chamber Competition, participated in the Trondheim International Chamber Music Academy in Norway. Godwin’s compositions have been performed by a youth orchestra, a children’s choir and other small ensembles. Godwin completed a bachelor’s degree and an Artist Diploma at the GGS with John O’Conor, and is now pursuing a master’s degree at the Université de Montréal with Henry Kramer.
November 2022
