Buffalo taps Freeman

Erin R. Freeman, associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony and director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus, will leave the orchestra at the end of the 2013-14 season to become music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus in New York, Bill Lohmann reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/richmond-symphony-s-freeman-leaving-for-buffalo-after--/article_0bc80f4d-61cd-5914-91c2-470803147645.html

The 40-year-old conductor, a native of Atlanta, came to Richmond in 2004 to conduct the Richmond Philharmonic. She was hired by the symphony two years later, and shortly thereafter succeeded James Erb, founder of the Symphony Chorus, as its director.

Freeman was one of the youngest protégés of the great American chorusmaster Robert Shaw. She sang under Shaw's direction in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, and later in the Robert Shaw Singers, a chamber choral ensemble.

Freeman worked last season on a collaboration between the Richmond Symphony and Virginia Symphony choruses in Mahler's Eighth Symphony. The conductor was JoAnn Falletta, who is music director both the Virginia Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic.

Freeman subsequently visited Buffalo to work with the chorus and orchestra.