Harry Freedman, (; April 5, 1922 – September 16, 2005) was a Canadian composer, English hornist and teacher.
He wrote a range of orchestral works including the scores to films such as The Bloody Brood (1959), Isabel (1968), The Act of the Heart (1970), The Pyx (1973) and The Courage of Kavik the Wolf Dog. He also wrote the music for six ballets, an opera, incidental music for the theatre, vocal art songs and choral works, and a substantial amount of chamber music.
Biography
He was born on April 5, 1922 in Łódź. At age three, Freedman emigrated with his family from Poland to Canada where the family settled in Medicine Hat, Alberta. His father worked in the fur trade. Freedman was nine when his family relocated to Winnipeg. He enrolled at the Winnipeg School of Art to study painting when he was 14. He also spent the summers at the Tanglewood Music Center where he was a pupil of Olivier Messiaen and Aaron Copland.
In 1972–1981, he taught at the Courtenay Youth Music Centre where he was also the composer-in-residence. Among his notable pupils was Gilles Bellemare. In 1977, he was the subject of a radio documentary produced by Norma Beecroft for the CBC. In 1979–1981, he was the president of the Guild of Canadian Film Composers and, from 1985 to 1990, he was music officer for the Toronto Arts Council. From 1989 to 1991, he served on the music faculty of the University of Toronto, where he taught classes in composition and orchestration.
Freedman died in Toronto on September 16, 2005. He was married (1951) to the soprano, Mary Morrison.