Ann Freeman to conduct Southern Delaware Choral Society winter concerts
Ann Freeman, Southern Delaware Choral Society assistant conductor, will conduct the organization’s winter concerts following the illness of Conductor John Ranney. When asked about taking on the challenge of directing the 70-member chorus, Freeman said, “There was no question; I knew the concert had to go on and I needed to step up for John. Honestly, I love conducting. Most of my experience is in musical theatre and running children’s choruses, but it is really fun conducting an adult chorus.”
Freeman received her bachelors degree from Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in geography and minored in music and theatre. While at Mount Holyoke she served as the musical director for many college theatrical productions, as well as for community theatre groups and the college’s summer theatre in its inaugural and second seasons. She sang with the Mount Holyoke Glee Club and Chamber Singers and toured Europe with the Chamber Singers in 1970 when they won first prize at the International Koorfest in Amsterdam. Freeman also co-directed Mount Holyoke’s award-winning a capella group, the V-8s, for two years.
She spent the 1970s and early 1980s working in the professional theatre and motion picture industries in New York City, and singing in the Dessoff Choirs, one of New York’s premier choral groups. In the late 1980s Freeman taught music at Rippowam Cisqua School in Westchester County, N.Y., before moving to Dubai, where she taught music at the American School of Dubai and sang with the Dubai Women’s Chorus for three years. Shortly after moving to Moscow in 1995, Ann was asked to become the music teacher and choral director at the high school of the Anglo-American School, based in the U.S. Embassy.
For most of the last 10 years Freeman has taught music at The Jefferson School in Georgetown. She also sings in the choir at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lewes.
Freeman is the membership chairperson of the Delaware Chapter of the American Choral Directors’ Association and is also a member of its board.
When asked what she enjoys the most about the winter concerts titled A Holiday Voyage: Christmas Around the World, Freeman said, “I really am enjoying the multicultural nature of the concert. I’m liking the rhythm - it's so global each song brings joyous message after joyous message at a time when we can all use it. I hope the audience comes planning to dance in the seats. I hope to get them clapping their hands, too!”
The concerts will be held Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8-9. The Dec. 8 concert will be held at Woodbridge High School in Bridgeville, at 3 p.m., and the Dec. 9 concert will be held at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes at 3 p.m.
Tickets for both performances are available by calling 302-396-7617, at southerndelawarechoralsociety.org, and at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach and Puzzles in Lewes. Costs for the tickets are $20 adults and $8 for students with valid ID.
