Don Freund was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
USA. He studied at Duquesne University, and earned his graduate degrees at the
Eastman School of Music. His composition teachers were Joseph Willcox Jenkins,
Darius Milhaud, Charles Jones, Wayne Barlow, Warren Benson, and Samuel Adler.
As founder and coordinator of the University of Memphis' New Music Festival,
he programmed close to 1,000 new American works, and has been conductor or pianist
in the performance of some 200 new pieces, usually in collaboration with the
composer.
Freund has composed over 80 performed works,
ranging from solo, chamber, and orchestral music to pieces involving live performance
with electronic instruments, music for dance, and large theatre works. He is
also active as a pianist, conductor, and lecturer, and is on the Music
Faculty at Indiana University.
He has received two grants from the National
Endowment for the Arts, commissions including the Tennessee Arts Commission
with Opera Memphis, and prizes including 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, the Hanson Prize, the McCurdy Award,
the Aspen Prize, 14 ASCAP Awards, and a Macgeorge Fellowship for the University
of Melbourne, Australia. In 1992 he was appointed Professor of Composition at
Indiana University, where he recently performed Bach's Well Tempered Clavier,
Book I, in recital.
PUBLICATIONS
- Music for Flute
- Pentecost 1980--9 min; for flute, viola, trombone,
piano, percussion; published by MMB MUSIC
- Dissolving Music: Rockpiece after W.S. Mersin
1978--10 min; soprano, flute, trombone, violin, cello, piano, drumset;
published by MMB MUSIC
- Elegy for Simas Kudirka 1972--14 min; flute, clarinet,
viola, cello, contrabass, harp published by Seesaw Music
- ReTournai: Toccata quatre 1977--5 min; for flute,
trombone, marimba, piano; published by MMB MUSIC
- Backyard Songs 1990--12 min; flute, harp, aoprano;
published by published by MMB MUSIC
- Turning Points 1993--5 min; flute and cello
- Three Machaut Tunes 1992--6 min; flute and cello
- Good Morning, Melbourne 1992--6 min; flute, violin,
clarinet, alto sax, horn, trombone, synthesizer
- Winter Canons 1986--12 min; flute, violin, alto
sax or Bb clarinet, Synthesizer
- Quick Opener 1973--3 min; woodwind quintet
- Pastoral Symphony 1977--23 min; woodwind quintet,
piano
- Woodwind Trio 1966--8 min; flute, oboe, clarinet
- The Chimney Sweeper: Two Songs from Blake(transcribed
for harpsichord and flute) 1988--10 min; soprano, flute, harpsichord
- Aware(poem by D.H. Lawrence) 1976--4 min; chorus,
flute, cello
- Sonatina-Spring 1967(transcribed 1991) 6 min;
flute and piano
- Passing Fancy 1981--3 min; solo flute
- Music for No Apparent Reason 1985--2 min; solo
flute
- Orchestral Music
- Madame Bovary Ballet Suite (1995) Orchestra 35
mins. (Shorter collections ad lib.) Publisher: MMB Music
- Adagio for Orchestra (1966) Orchestra 4 mins.
Publisher: MMB Music
- Canzona for Orchestra (1971) Orchestra 11 mins.
Publisher: Seesaw Music
- A Sermon of John Donne from PASSION WITH TROPES
(1982) Narrator and Orchestra 4 mins.
- Sinfonietta (1989) Large Orchestra 18 mins. Publisher:
MMB Music
- Piano Concerto (1970) Piano and Orchestra 24 mins.
- Cello Concerto (1979) Cello solo, Solo Percussion,
Orchestra 19 mins.
- Viola Concerto (1995) Viola solo, Chamber Orchestra
19 mins.
- Radical Light (from Poem Symphonies) (1990) Orchestra
5 mins. Publisher: MMB Music
- Chamber Music
- Keyboard Music
- Choral Music
- Vocal Music
- Opera/Music Theatre
- PASSION WITH TROPES: Theatre-Oratorio in Two Parts
(1983) (170 mins) Chorus, Orchestra, Actors, Chamber Ensembles, Pop Singers,
Jazz Ensemble, Chant Choir, and Actors
- Passion Music: Oratorio from PASSION WITH TROPES (1983)
Chorus, Soloists, Orchestra 45 mins.
- Nine Excerpts from PASSION WITH TROPES (1983)
Actor, Mezzo, Baritone, String Quintet and Organ 17 mins.
- The Bishop's Ghost: Opera (1974) 8 Singers and
Chamber Orchestra 60 mins.
- Madame Bovary - Ballet after the novel by Gustave
Flaubert to choreographic scenario by Jacques Cesbron (1995) Orchestra
60 mins. Publisher: MMB Music
- Ballet
- Chamber Orchestra
- Hard Cells (1989) Chamber Orchestra (14 players)
12 mins. Publisher: MMB Music
- Three Songs (1968) Soprano and Chamber Orchestra
10 mins.
- String Orchestra
- Vista (1975) Three String Orchestras 4 mins.
- Gold (from Poem Symphonies) for String Orchestra
5 mins. (1990)
Works with no publisher listed are published by
Freundworks
2100 Olcott Blvd.
Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
7 June 2004