Erik Friedlander Presents Solo Cello Performance at The Jewish Museum Tonight, 10/18

Cellist Erik Friedlander will respond to the medieval manuscripts in the current exhibition Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries with a solo performance premiering new, original compositions in The Jewish Museum's galleries tonight, October 18 at 6:30pm. This event continues Writers and Artists Respond, a series of thought provoking discussions and performances by artists, musicians and writers in the Museum's galleries.

Tickets for the October 18 performance are FREE with Museum admission. A limited number of stools will be provided to attendees on a first come-first served basis.

For further information regarding programs at The Jewish Museum, the public may visit TheJewishMuseum.org/publicprograms.

Upcoming participants in the Writers and Artists Respond series include sculptor Kiki Smith and Alexander Nagel of the Institute of Fine Arts on January 17 and writer and poet Amir Parsa on January 31.

Erik Friedlander is a highly regarded composer, improviser and veteran of New York's downtown music scene. His fifteen releases include American Power, a suite of six solo pieces released on a limited-edition LP; the rustically soulful Bonebridge; The Broken Arm Trio, a tribute to jazz bassist Oscar Pettiford; and Block Ice & Propane, his solo cello reinterpretation of American roots music. His compositions and his improvising style are informed by an understanding of classical and popular styles and an evolving vision of what a cellist can be pushed to achieve. Nate Chinen of The New York Times called Friedlander "an ingenious cellist who makes an art of soulful rusticity." Billboard wrote, "Friedlander [is] one of today's most ingenious and forward-thinking musical practicioners."

England's Bodleian Library at Oxford University, established by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602 and now the largest of the University's group of 'Bodleian Libraries', is renowned for its great treasures. Among them is one of the most important collections of medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscripts in the world. The Jewish Museum is presenting Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries through February 3, 2013. This exhibition features over 60 works - Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin manuscripts - the majority of which have never been seen in the United States. Several paintings and printed books are also on view. Included is the splendid Kennicott Bible, the most lavishly illuminated Hebrew Bible to survive from medieval Spain, as well as two works in the hand of Maimonides, one of the most prominent Jewish philosophers and rabbinic authorities. This exhibition is based on Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures co-curated by Piet van Boxel and Sabine Arndt for The Bodleian Library. The New York City presentation has been organized by The Jewish Museum's Curator Claudia Nahson.