He is a violist, violinist and conductor who began studying music at Henry Street Settlement Music School in lower Manhattan, New York before entering the Juilliard Pre-College Division. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Yale College and his Master of Music Performance degree at Yale School of Music. During his studies he entered several competitions and was awarded at the Broadus Earle Memorial Prize for Violin, the Tokyo String Quartet Prize for Chamber Music and the Wiliam Waithe Concerto Competition prize. He took further studies in London.
He became second violin in the Manhattan String Quartet and became a member of the viola section of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1998. At the same time he performed as the Mankato Symphony Orchestra’s music director for 12 seasons. During his time with them the orchestra was awarded three NEA Fast-track awards and received a $500,000 transformational bequest.
Other orchestras and ensemble he has performed with include being a substitute violist for the New York Philharmonic and second violin for the Rosalyra String Quartet, winning a McKnight Artist Fellowship with the ensemble.
Training in conducting he attended master classes with Jorma Panula and under Leonard Slatkin at the National Symphony Orchestra’s Institute at the Kennedy Center. In 2005 he held the position of Assistant Conductor at the Minnesota Orchestra for the season. He has been the conductor of Greenwood Music Camp for more than a decade and has also conducted the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, the Mankato Ballet Company and the San Juan Symphony Orchestra. He has also been music director of the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra.
Recordings he has performed on outside of the Minnesota Orchestra include Camille Saint-Saens/Ann Eggleston/Carl Maria von Weber: Quatuors pour piano et cordes by Music Camerata Montreal.
In the field of musical education he is a founder of Learning Through Music Consulting Group which works with many public schools in partnership with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, the MacPhail Center for Music, the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis public schools. He has worked with a Community School in Vietnam and won a Yale Music School alumni award which gives support to Mankato summer schools.
Sources:
- https://www.kennethfreed.net/about
- https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/about/our-people/orchestra-musicians/kenneth-freed/
- http://www.parkerartists.com/Kenneth-Freed.html
- http://dakotamusictour.blogspot.com/p/kenneth-freed.html
- http://kenwoodsymphonyorchestra.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Marvelous-Mendelssohn-10_8_2005.pdf
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/7538454-Kenneth-Freed