Harry Freedman facts for kids

Harry Freedman (born Henryk Frydmann) was a famous Canadian composer, English horn player, and music teacher. He was born in Poland on April 5, 1922, and passed away on September 16, 2005. Freedman wrote a lot of music for orchestras, including scores for movies like The Bloody Brood (1959) and Isabel (1968). He also created many pieces for small groups of instruments, known as chamber music.

Besides orchestral and chamber music, Harry Freedman composed music for six ballets, an opera, and some plays. He also wrote songs for singers and choirs. In 1996, he won a Juno Award for his orchestral work Touchings. In 1998, he won a composition prize at the International Rostrum of Composers for his piece Borealis. This work was specially requested by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Soundstreams Canada, and CBC Radio. In 2002, the Canadian Music Centre released an album called Canadian Composers Portraits: Harry Freedman, which featured his music.

Early Life and Moving to Canada

Harry Freedman and his family moved from Poland to Canada when he was just three years old. They settled in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His father worked in the fur trade. When Harry was nine, his family moved again to Winnipeg. At 13, he started studying painting at the Winnipeg School of Art.

Discovering Music

Freedman started his music journey a bit later in life. He loved big band music and began taking clarinet lessons in 1940 when he was 18. His teacher, Arthur Hart, later became the main clarinet player for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It was through Hart that Freedman first learned about orchestral music.

His music studies were paused during World War II. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1945. After the war, in 1945, he enrolled at The Royal Conservatory of Music. He studied there until 1951. His most important teachers were John Weinzweig, who taught him how to compose music, and Perry Bauman, his oboe teacher. He also spent summers studying at the Tanglewood Music Center with famous composers like Olivier Messiaen and Aaron Copland.

A Career in Music

In 1946, Freedman joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as an English horn player. He played with them until 1971. In 1951, he helped start the Canadian League of Composers and later served as its president from 1975 to 1978.

From 1972 to 1981, he taught at the Courtenay Youth Music Centre, where he was also the composer-in-residence. One of his notable students there was Gilles Bellemare. In 1977, the CBC made a radio show about him.

Freedman was also the president of the Guild of Canadian Film Composers from 1979 to 1981. From 1985 to 1990, he worked as a music officer for the Toronto Arts Council. In 1980, the Canadian Music Council named him composer of the year. In 1984, he was honored as an Officer of the Order of Canada, which is a very high award in Canada. From 1989 to 1991, he taught music composition and orchestration at the University of Toronto.

See also

• Music of Canada
• List of Canadian composers