Awards

Guggenheim Fellow - 2005

About Don Freund

Don Freund is currently professor of music composition at the IU Bloomington Jacobs School of Music, a position he has held since 1992. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA) in 1969 and both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music in 1970 and 1972, respectively. He was chairman of the composition department at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis) from 1972 to 1992 and founder and coordinator of the University of Memphis’s Annual New Music Festival.

Freund is an internationally recognized composer with works ranging from solo, chamber, and orchestral music to pieces involving live performances with electronic instruments, music for dance, and large theater works. He has been described as "a composer thoughtful in approach and imaginative in style" (The Washington Post), whose music is "exciting, amusing, disturbing, beautiful, and always fascinating" (Music and Musicians, London). Many of Freund’s works are available on commercial CD. The recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship (music composition), he has served as guest composer at a vast array of universities and music festivals, and presented master classes throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. He is also active as a pianist, conductor, and lecturer. As a festival coordinator, he has programmed over 1,000 new American works. He has been conductor or pianist in the performance of some 200 new pieces, usually in collaboration with the composer. Teaching composition continues to be a major component of his career. His students from 40 years of teaching continue to win an impressive array of awards and recognitions. His piano concert repertoire extends from new music to complete performances of Bach’s WTC Book I and his own pianistic realizations of Machaut. He has performed his Earthdance Concerto with numerous university wind ensembles.