Hailed
as one of Canada's most provocative and creative performers,
Lori Freedman is internationally recognized for her work in
contemporary, improvised, and electroacoustic music, as well
as for dance and theatre. As a soloist she is described with
conspicuous distinction: "a
fantastic musician",
"the inimitable",
"the musical revolutionary"
and "consummate
artist". She was
the 1998 recipient of the Freddie
Stone Award for the "demonstration
of outstanding leadership, integrity and excellence in the
area of Contemporary Music and Jazz". To standing ovations
and rave reviews Freedman's recent performance of John
Corigliano's Clarinet Concerto earned
his public declaration that "she
plays my piece as though she owns it--and she does!"
In
addition to guest appearances with Canadian orchestras including
Vancouver, CBC, Winnipeg and Manitoba Chamber she performs
frequently with the Ig Henneman Tentet (NL), the Vancouver
New Music Ensemble (BC), and her own duo Queen Mab (MB, with
Marilyn Lerner on keyboards). She is in constant demand at
European, American, and Canadian festivals presenting improvised
music and new works of her own and of other composers. Ms
Freedman is highly active in the commissioning of new work,
and to date has premiered more than 25 Canadian compositions
for solo bass clarinet. She can be heard on twenty-three commercial
recordings in addition to her own solo CD, HUSKLESS!
Lori Freedman Live in Concert
which was released in
April 1999 on the Artifact label.
Her
Canadian duo Queen Mab released their debut CD Barbie's
Other Shoe in April 1997 and have since made three extensive
tours throughout North America. In June 1999 they recorded
music with five Toronto-based improvisers for their second
disc Close: The Duos and Trios. Always an explorer
of performance styles, she is continually involved with the
creation of works that integrate disciplines. During last
year's season Freedman also created the movement/music/film
performance I Went by a Clean Name with dancer/choreographer
Brent Lott. For theatre she composed and performed the music
for Gertrude Stein and a Companion that was chosen
"first pick" at seven Fringe Festivals in western
Canada. She created and performed 911, a solo clarinet/movement
piece for the Art in Open Spaces series that took place at
several downtown fountain sites in Toronto. And she created
two soundtracks: for Erika MacPherson's film Disobedience
and for the video/performance piece of Shawna Dempsey and
Lorri Millan, The Headless Woman.
Recently
returned from a three-month sojourn in Amsterdam working with
Louis Andriessen and Misha Mengleberg on compositional development,
Freedman also appeared in performance with some of Europe's
most prominent improvisers. Consequently she was invited to
return on five separate occasions for world premieres and
recordings with: the Gaudeamus Muziekweek, the Ig Henneman
Tentet, the Houtkamp/Freedman Duo, Magpie Theatre and the
Zaal Honderd Improvised Music Series. Upcoming highlights
include Pushing Daisies (UK-Foursight Theatre), DuMaurier
Jazz Festival (Vancouver), The Sound Symposium (Newfoundland)
and a featured concert in Supermeme's Cartes Blanches Series
(Montreal).
"Lori Freedman is
the best thing that ever happened to New Music. It is fantastic
playing by a fantastic musician. Lori Freedman now owns my
concerto"
composer
John Corigliano, New York City
"The inimitable, Lori Freedman"
journalist
Robert Enright, Canada
"Hailed
as a bass clarinet virtuoso and one of the country's finest
interpreters of contemporary music"
music
critic Alex Varty,
Vancouver
"Musical
to the bone, Freedman is an artist who is in your face and
you're
glad of it"
CBC
radio producer
David Jaeger, Toronto
"The
closest thing to Laurie Anderson since Laurie Anderson"
audience
member at Roulette,
New York City
"Freedman
has the conception, the sheer abandon that makes new music
work"
music critic
Murray Dineen, Ottawa Citizen
"Freedman...
a musical revolutionary...has a reputation for musical daring
that places her in the front ranks of the musical avant-guard
in North America"
music
critic Michael
Scott, Vancouver Sun
"...starts
good and just keeps getting better!"
violist
Richard Moody, Winnipeg
Selected
Discography
HUSKLESS!
Lori Freedman Live in Concert Artifact
(ART 020)
Barbie's
Other Shoe Nine
Winds (NWCD 0198)
Tsirkus
Traditional
Crossroads (4202)
Indigo
Wig
(04)
Treeline
CBC
Records (MVCD 1109)
The
Composer in the Computer Age (vols. 16, 27) Centaur
(CRC 2219)
Whose
Forest? Hornblower
(98104)
Lesbian
American Composers CRI
(CD 780)
Action/Reaction
IMED
(IMED 9105)
