TEACHER BIOS

Your Professional & Experienced Musical Guides

CARSON FREEMAN

2010 Canadian Smooth Jazz Wind Instrumentalist of the Year
Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Ukulele & Theory

A graduate of the Humber College Jazz Studies Program, saxophonist Carson Freeman has developed a unique, sought after style that has launched him into the performance spotlight. Heralded as the 2010 Canadian Smooth Jazz Wind Instrumentalist of the Year, Freeman was also awarded opportunities that showcased his musical art alongside Grammy Award Winners Michael Bublé, M.C. Hammer, David Sanborn, (Guitarist/Producer) Paul Brown, Guitarist Larry Carlton, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and Jazz Singer/Pianist Diana Krall. As well, Carson has performed with several other notable musicians, including drummer Max Weinberg, fellow sax man Dave Koz, and Canadian singing icon Gino Vannelli. In 2017, Carson became a member of Canadian singing sensation, Andy Kim‘s band. Carson has also performed with Comedian Sinbad in his live improv shows. Freeman appeared numerous times on Canadian national television, has performed for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Premier Doug Ford, and has entertained notable international celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Catherine Zeta Jones, The Toronto Maple Leafs, and The Toronto Raptors.

Carson has been a music educator for almost twenty years and has taught at the Vienna Academy of Music, Froebel Education Centre and Humber College Community Program. He has served as an examiner, Woodwind Department Head, adjudicator and workshop and masterclass clinician in addition to teaching at Merriam Music for eleven years. He is currently the Band Teacher at Holy Name of Mary College School in Mississauga. He has also conducted workshops at various elementary and secondary public schools across the Greater Toronto Area.

ABIGAIL FREEMAN

B.Mus., M.Mus., N.A.T.S., O.R.M.T.A.

R.C.M. Certified Teacher

Piano, Voice, Theory,

Administrator

Noted for her unique vocal colour and agility, soprano Abigail Freeman has thrilled audiences around the world. Engagements have included Mozart’s Requiem with the Brantford Symphony, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony and Village Voices, Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Cantata, Wachet, betet and his St. Matthew Passion with the Georgetown Bach Chorale. With the Mississauga Choral Society, she has appeared as a soloist in The Very Best of Gilbert & Sullivan and J.S. Bach’s Wachet auf. Previous opera roles have included Blonde (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Queen of the Night and Papagena (The Magic Flute), Suor Genoveffa (Suor Angelica), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), The Chair (A Chair in Love), Fanchette (Le marriage aux lanternes), Annchen (Der Freischutz), and Ophelia in the premiere staging of Canadian Mark Richards’ Hamlet.

As a music educator, Abigail has taught at several well known and respected music schools in the Toronto area and was a Teaching Assistant at Binghamton University, teaching undergraduate level singers, piano classes and voice classes as well as accompanying. Abigail has adjudicated choirs, voice and piano at the Merriam School of Music Festival, the Oshawa Whitby Kiwanis Music Festival, the St. Catherine's Kiwanis Music Festival, the Chatham-Kent Kiwanis Music Festival, the North York Music Festival, the Brantford Music Festival, the Simcoe Kiwanis Music Festival, the Kingston Kiwanis Music Festival, Funfest, and the Glenburnie Performing Arts Challenge. As a clinician, she has lead workshops in language and diction as well performance skills. An experienced choral conductor, she is the current Music Director at the Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga and the Associate Conductor with the Mississauga Festival Youth Choir and has led the choir at the Toronto Faculty of Music and the Froebel Education Centre Choirs and was Apprentice Conductor for the Earl Haig Girls’ Chamber Choir, the Toronto Children’s Chorus, and the Toronto Children’s Chorus Junior Choir. For the renowned Toronto Children’s Chorus, she has also served as Theory Tutor, Sight Singing Teacher and Assistant Camp Director for several summers. Abigail has been Vocal Coach and Music Director for the Toronto All Star Big Band and productions of Wonderful Town, Seussical Jr. , Willy Wonka, and Once upon a mattress. She has also worked with Horizon Arts Camp and was the Performance Arts Director and Co-Founder of Infusion Creative Arts.

Abigail holds a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) from the University of Toronto as well as a Master of Music (Voice Performance) from Binghamton University, New York and is an executive member of the Ontario Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) , an executive member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers' Association (ORMTA) Etobicoke-Mississauga Branch and the Chair of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Associations (CFMTA) E-Festival.