Meet the Music Director Finalists
Erin Freeman
Glen Cortese
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Anna Binneweg
Rebecca Bryant Novak
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Guest Conductor Erin Freeman Concert: October 16
Versatile, engaging, and spirited, conductor and artistic leader Erin Freeman serves in multiple positions throughout the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia and maintains a national presence through guest conducting engagements. Freeman is Artistic Director of The City Choir of Washington, Artistic Director of Wintergreen Music, and Resident Conductor of the Richmond Ballet, the State Ballet of Virginia. She recently concluded successful tenures as Director of the award-winning Richmond Symphony Chorus and Director of Choral Activities at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Guest conducting engagements include the Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony, Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and additional ensembles in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Illinois. She has conducted at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, La Madeleine in Paris, and the Kennedy Center, and has conducted and/or prepared the Richmond Symphony Chorus for multiple recordings, including the 2019 GRAMMY-nominated release of Mason Bates’ Children of Adam on the Reference Recording label. After a year of creating online experiences for multiple organizations and leading the 2021 in-person Wintergreen Music Festival, in 2021-2022, Freeman returned to the podium in engagements with the Virginia, Portland, Detroit, Williamsburg, and Richmond Symphony Orchestras, choral preparation for the Defiant Requiem Foundation, a performance of Faure’s Requiem in Carnegie Hall with Distinguished Concerts International New York, two productions with the Richmond Ballet, and the Richmond Symphony Chorus’ long-awaited 50th anniversary celebration, featuring Haydn’s The Creation. The 2022-2023 season brings appearances with the Detroit Symphony, the Savannah Philharmonic, the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra, two productions with the Richmond Ballet, multiple podium appearances at the Wintergreen Music Festival, and four performances with The City Choir of Washington.
A recent finalist for Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year, Freeman has also been named one of Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s “50 Most Influential Women in Virginia” and an “Extraordinary Woman Leader” by the VCU School of Business. Freeman holds degrees from Northwestern University (BMus), Boston University (MM), and Peabody Conservatory (DMA).
Visit Erin Freeman's website.
Guest conducting engagements include the Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony, Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and additional ensembles in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Illinois. She has conducted at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, La Madeleine in Paris, and the Kennedy Center, and has conducted and/or prepared the Richmond Symphony Chorus for multiple recordings, including the 2019 GRAMMY-nominated release of Mason Bates’ Children of Adam on the Reference Recording label. After a year of creating online experiences for multiple organizations and leading the 2021 in-person Wintergreen Music Festival, in 2021-2022, Freeman returned to the podium in engagements with the Virginia, Portland, Detroit, Williamsburg, and Richmond Symphony Orchestras, choral preparation for the Defiant Requiem Foundation, a performance of Faure’s Requiem in Carnegie Hall with Distinguished Concerts International New York, two productions with the Richmond Ballet, and the Richmond Symphony Chorus’ long-awaited 50th anniversary celebration, featuring Haydn’s The Creation. The 2022-2023 season brings appearances with the Detroit Symphony, the Savannah Philharmonic, the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra, two productions with the Richmond Ballet, multiple podium appearances at the Wintergreen Music Festival, and four performances with The City Choir of Washington.
A recent finalist for Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year, Freeman has also been named one of Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s “50 Most Influential Women in Virginia” and an “Extraordinary Woman Leader” by the VCU School of Business. Freeman holds degrees from Northwestern University (BMus), Boston University (MM), and Peabody Conservatory (DMA).
Visit Erin Freeman's website.
Guest Conductor Anna Binneweg Concert: December 11
"Collaborative ... Engaging ... Audience - ingratiating ..." - Baltimore Sun
As the Music Director/Conductor of the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra, the AACC Symphony Orchestra at Anne Arundel Community College (Annapolis, MD) and a frequent guest conductor on the national and international scene, Anna Binneweg has performed in some of the nation’s most reputable concert venues including the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall (Washington, D.C.), the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, MD) and the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, CA). Her international conducting experiences include tours to Austria, Spain, Ukraine, and Belarus. She has worked with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Daniel Barenboim, Robert Spano, James Paul, Michael Morgan, Duaine Wolfe, Nurhan Arman and David Effron. Earning a doctorate degree of music in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University where she studied with Victor Yampolsky, she has also served on the conducting faculties at Loyola University, the Sherwood Conservatory of Music, and American University. Binneweg is the recipient of the 2015 Annie Award for the Performing Arts awarded by the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. Visit Anna Binneweg's website.
As the Music Director/Conductor of the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra, the AACC Symphony Orchestra at Anne Arundel Community College (Annapolis, MD) and a frequent guest conductor on the national and international scene, Anna Binneweg has performed in some of the nation’s most reputable concert venues including the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall (Washington, D.C.), the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, MD) and the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, CA). Her international conducting experiences include tours to Austria, Spain, Ukraine, and Belarus. She has worked with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Daniel Barenboim, Robert Spano, James Paul, Michael Morgan, Duaine Wolfe, Nurhan Arman and David Effron. Earning a doctorate degree of music in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University where she studied with Victor Yampolsky, she has also served on the conducting faculties at Loyola University, the Sherwood Conservatory of Music, and American University. Binneweg is the recipient of the 2015 Annie Award for the Performing Arts awarded by the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. Visit Anna Binneweg's website.
Guest Conductor Glen Cortese Concert: February 11
Glen Cortese has had hundreds of guest engagements as the conductor of dozens of orchestras, opera and ballet companies and summer festivals around the world, including New Jersey Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Belarus State Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, National Romanian Radio Orchestra, Slovak Radio Orchestra, and Mexico City Philharmonic. A champion of new music, Cortese has conducted over 150 premieres, working in direct collaboration with composers Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, Hans Werner Henze, and Ralph Shapey. He was an assistant conductor to the New York Philharmonic from 1990–92 for Zubin Mehta and in July of 1993, he was invited by Kurt Masur to guest conduct a reading with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. At present he is artistic director of the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. He just completed twelve seasons as music director of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra and was named music director emeritus of the Oregon Mozart Players after serving as artistic director for nine seasons. Visit Glen Cortese's website.
Guest Conductor Rebecca Bryant Novak Concert: March 26
“Sharp, distinct, and vibrant...The joy of the music shaped her conducting.” - Südkurier
Rebecca Bryant Novak is the Associate Conductor of National Philharmonic, where she conducts Summer String Institute, Montgomery County Public Schools 2nd Graders Concerts, and the Johansen International Competition Showcase Concert, and serves as the assistant conductor for the National Philharmonic Chorale.
Last season, she guest conducted Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, where she conducted the U.S. premiere of Oana Vardianu’s Genesis, and studied at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Romanian Chamber Orchestra Conductor Master Class with Cristian Măcelaru. She has conducted in master classes with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Southwest German Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, with teachers including Gerard Schwarz, Atso Almila, Johannes Schlaefli. She studied conducting at the University of Cincinati College-Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute.
She is the creator and conductor of SoundWebs – a concert series and commissioning project that explores wordless music in surprising sonic spaces – and The Listening Lab – an educational concert program that teaches students intentional listening skills. A first-generation college graduate, she is committed to access in education and has served as a teaching artist with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids, MyCincinnati, and the Peaslee Neighborhood Center.
Rebecca Bryant Novak is the Associate Conductor of National Philharmonic, where she conducts Summer String Institute, Montgomery County Public Schools 2nd Graders Concerts, and the Johansen International Competition Showcase Concert, and serves as the assistant conductor for the National Philharmonic Chorale.
Last season, she guest conducted Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, where she conducted the U.S. premiere of Oana Vardianu’s Genesis, and studied at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Romanian Chamber Orchestra Conductor Master Class with Cristian Măcelaru. She has conducted in master classes with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Southwest German Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, with teachers including Gerard Schwarz, Atso Almila, Johannes Schlaefli. She studied conducting at the University of Cincinati College-Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute.
She is the creator and conductor of SoundWebs – a concert series and commissioning project that explores wordless music in surprising sonic spaces – and The Listening Lab – an educational concert program that teaches students intentional listening skills. A first-generation college graduate, she is committed to access in education and has served as a teaching artist with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids, MyCincinnati, and the Peaslee Neighborhood Center.