Freeman, Paul (Douglas)
Freeman, Paul (Douglas)
Freeman, Paul (Douglas), African-American conductor; b. Richmond, Va., Jan. 2, 1936. He studied piano, clarinet, and cello in his youth, then continued his musical training at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. (B.M., 1956; M.M., 1957; Ph.D., 1963); also took courses at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (1957–59). Returning to the U.S., he took conducting lessons with Richard Lert and Pierre Monteux. He subsequently held the post of conductor with the Opera Theater of Rochester (1961–66), the San Francisco Cons. Orch. (1966–67), and the San Francisco Little Sym. Orch. (1967–68); then was assoc. conductor of the Dallas Sym. Orch. (1968–70) and resident conductor of the Detroit Sym. Orch. (1970–79); also served as principal guest conductor of the Helsinki Phil. (1974–76). From 1979 to 1988 he was music director of the Victoria (B.C.) Sym. Orch. In 1987 he became music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire