Paul Freeman bids farewell to the orchestra he made the most diverse in the nation

Chicago Tribune
By John von Rhein
May 18, 2011
Original Link

The same week that a historic changing of the guard took place in the Chicago mayor’s office, the Chicago Sinfonietta is preparing to say goodbye to its longtime chief executive and to welcome his successor.

Paul Freeman, who founded the orchestra in 1987 and has served as its music director for the last 24 years, will literally pass the baton to his successor, Mei-Ann Chen, at the final concerts of the season Sunday in River Forest and Monday in Chicago. Chen, 38, a Taiwan-born American conductor, officially begins her four-year contract as music director on July 1.

Freeman, 75, is among the handful of African-American conductors who have risen to world prominence over the past 40 years. In addition to the Sinfonietta, he has been the artistic chief of the Victoria Symphony in Canada, principal guest conductor the Helsinki Philharmonic in Finland, and, from 1996 until his retirement this year, music director of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. He also made a landmark series of recordings of music by black composers for Columbia during the 1970s.

Freeman has no doubts whatsoever that he’s leaving his local legacy in capable hands. “Mei-Ann is a very talented conductor,” he says. “If she continues in the directions we have already seen, she and the orchestra should go far together.”

When I recently asked Freeman to cite the Chicago accomplishments of which he is proudest, he pointed to the success of his efforts to promote diversity and inclusiveness throughout the organization, in its roster and repertory, and among audience members.

“According to a survey conducted by the Juilliard School of Music, we are the only orchestra in the U.S. to have diversity in its mission statement,” Freeman says. “Some 45 percent of our audience is now made up of people of color. The number of musicians of color in the sinfonietta has grown from around 12 percent when we began to almost 50 percent today.

“Diversity thrives from top to bottom of the organization — on our board of directors, in our support groups, among the composers, soloists and musical works we present. It’s a complete wedding.”

Players and staffers alike praise the achievements of the musician they have grown accustomed to calling “Maestro Freeman.”

“Paul is what I would call a cultural entrepreneur,” said Dileep Gangolli, the Sinfonietta’s principal clarinet, in “Sounds of Diversity,” a documentary about the orchestra produced by Chicago’s WYCC-TV Ch. 20. “He kept this organization alive through the economic downturn with his charisma and personality.” Because of him, “it’s now an (established) institution within the Chicago musical community.”

“Paul has mentored young musicians, composers and soloists of color and really helped them find their place in a field that has not always been very welcoming to them,” said Jim Hirsch, the orchestra’s executive director since 2004.

Chen is wasting no time building on the Freeman legacy, as witness her portion of the orchestra’s season finale and the adventuresome musical agenda she has planned for the 25th anniversary season in 2011-12.

The concerts Sunday and Monday will celebrate living women composers and performers, with Chen conducting works by Jennifer Higdon, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Gwyneth Walker. Also on the program will be “Divertimento Notte blu,” a world premiere for orchestra and jazz musicians, composed and conducted by Renee Baker, who chairs the Sinfonietta’s viola section.

Next season will bring a salute to the great American mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry; the Chicago premieres of works by John Williams and Chicago jazz flutist Nicole Mitchell; and the world premiere of a suite from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” as arranged for string quartet and orchestra.

The Chicago Sinfonietta’s final concerts of the season will take place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Lund Auditorium, Dominican University, 7900 W. Division St., River Forest; and 7:30 p.m. Monday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $26-$96; 312-236-3681, ext. 2; chicagosinfonietta.org.