Don Freund

Don Freund is Professor of Music in Composition at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, where he has served on faculty since 1992. An internationally recognized composer with a 50-year teaching career, his students consistently win major awards and recognitions across disciplines.

His educational background includes:

• D.M.A., Doctor of Musical Arts, Eastman School of Music, 1972
• M.M., Master of Music, Eastman School of Music, 1970

Freund's creative practice spans solo, chamber, and orchestral works alongside electronic compositions, dance scores, and large-scale theater productions. His style is characterized as "thoughtful in approach and imaginative" (The Washington Post), with output described as "exciting, amusing, disturbing, beautiful, and always fascinating" (Music and Musicians, London). As a performer, he maintains an active piano repertoire ranging from new music to complete performances of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and his own Machaut realizations.

His major honors include:

• Two National Endowment for the Arts grants
• Guggenheim Fellowship

Freund has mentored students for five decades while serving as guest composer at global institutions and festivals. His collaborative work includes programming over 1,000 new American compositions as festival coordinator and performing in approximately 200 new works as pianist/conductor, often directly with composers. Recent projects include the premiere recording of Popping Bubbles: Four Poems of Emily Bobo and choreographed works like Autumnsongs Ballet.

His ongoing creative output is documented through videos, audio files, and scores of 100+ compositions available at DonFreund.com, reflecting continuous engagement with contemporary performance practices.