Don Freund
| Don Freund | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America |
| Genres | Classical Music |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
Don Freund (born 1947, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American composer and Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His over 100 performed works, include solo, chamber, and orchestral music, live performance with electronic instruments, large theatre works.
He studied at Duquesne University (BM ‘69), and earned his graduate degrees at the Eastman School of Music (MM’70, DMA’72). His composition teachers were Joseph Willcox Jenkins, Darius Milhaud, Ralph Freund, Wayne Barlow, Warren Benson, and Samuel Adler. From 1972 to 1992 he was chairman of the Composition Department at Memphis State University. As founder and coordinator of Memphis State University’s Annual New Music Festival, he programmed close to a thousand new American works; he has been conductor or pianist in the performance of some two hundred new pieces, usually in collaboration with the composer.
Freund has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (Cello Concerto; Passion with Tropes), grants from Jacobs School of Music to compose the ballet Madame Bovary and Earthdance Concerto. Commissions including the Tennessee Arts Commission with Opera Memphis (Opera: The Bishop’s Ghost), Tennessee Music Teachers Association (Pastoral Symphony), the Memphis City Schools (Vista for Three String Orchestras), the Memphis in May International Festival (Springsongs), the Verdehr Trio (Triomusic), the Tennessee Department of Education (Jug Blues & Fat Pickin’ for the Governor’s School Wind Ensemble), the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (Hard Cells), the Jubal Trio (Backyard Songs), Memphis Ballet (Alice in Wonderland), the International Viola Congress (Fanfare for Violas), the Pastiche Ensemble (Rough and Tumble), Florida State University and Indiana University (Beyond the Brass Gates), the Rodrigo Riera International Guitar Festival (One Singer, Two Voices), Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory (Primavera Doubles), Voces Novae (Childhood Awakening), Robert and Sara LeBien (Quilt Horizon), Germantown Symphony Orchestra (Preludes for Orchestra), Whatcom Symphony Orchestra (Word on the Street), Ensemble Zellig (Crunch Time), and the Indiana Music Teachers Association (Autumnsongs). Prizes include the Washington International String Quartet Composition Competition, the International Society for Contemporary Music/League of Composers International Piano Music Competition, the AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition (God’s Grandeur), the Rodrigo Riera International Competition for Guitar Composition (Stirrings), the Hanson Prize, the McCurdy Award, the Aspen Prize, 25 ASCAP Awards, and a Macgeorge Fellowship from the University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2005, Freund was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Romeo and Juliet: A Shakespearian Music-Drama, which was given its premiere production by the Bloomington Playwrights Project in 2008.
Recordings
- New Music From Indiana University Vol 4 - Don Freund Madame Bovary Suite, Soft Cells, Concerto for Viola, Dissolving Music:Indiana University Concert Orchestra, Indiana University New Music Ensemble, Indiana University Chamber Orchestra conducted by Don Freund, David Dzubay, and Paul Biss. Indiana University 10.
Pedagogy
As Professor of Composition at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 1992, teaching composition continues to be a major component of Freund’s career. Freund’s students from 30 years of teaching continue to win an impressive array of awards and recognitions. He has also served as guest composer at a vast array of universities and music festivals. He has served as composer-in-residence at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Brevard Music Center and has given lectures and master classes at Royal Conservatories in Brussels, Prague, Vienna, the Hague, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and Tanglewood Music Center.
He hosts two large parties a year for composers in his department, known as "Freundfests". Composition students are invited to enjoy croquet, football, Freundburgers, Cheezfreundburgers, Veggiefreundburgers, and yes, even Cheezfreundveggieburgers. Attendees are heavily and repeatedly advised, as an inside joke, to bring their drinks.[1]
Sources
- Jens Staubrand: Kierkegaard International Bibliography Music Works and Plays, Copenhagen 2009. In English and Danish. ISBN 978-87-92510-05-1. Including Don Freund's FEAR AND TREMBLING BLUES, 1983
- Don Freund Indiana University Homepage
- DonFreund.com homepage
- Don Freund, Composition Department, Jacobs School of Music
- Interview with Don Freund by George Walker (September 18, 2009), accessed 28 January 2010
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