Neil Freebern

Manchester Center, VT

Neil Freebern has received both his Bachelor’s and Masters Degrees from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst graduating as a Lebow Scholar.  He has been the director of instrumental music for Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, the Moffat County School System in Craig, Colorado, the Central Berkshire Regional School system in Dalton, Massachusetts, and is currently working at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont.  In addition to his public school teaching, he served as the Trumpet Professor at Keene State College, a Departmental Assistant for the University of Massachusetts Music Department, and was the conductor of the UMass Youth Wind Ensemble for a total of five years.   

Mr. Freebern has served as a guest conductor and clinician for several district music festivals in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.  He has been the conductor of: the Central Vermont Jr. District Band, Western Massachusetts Jr. District Band, Quabbin Valley High School Honor Band, the Monadnok High School Honor Band, and the Umass Honor Band, Central Vermont Senior District Wind Ensemble, and the Central and Northeastern Massachusetts Jr. District Bands.  In addition, Mr. Freebern has been the founder and conductor of the Berkshire High School Honor Band Festival, and has spent six years as the conductor of the United States Youth Wind Ensemble, on a concert tour of Europe during the summer months.

In 1997 he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching from Wahconah Regional High School, and in 1999 the Western District Music Educators Association awarded Mr. Freebern the Teacher Excellence award.  In 1999 his Music Department was awarded the Naras Foundation’s Grammy Award for outstanding curriculum and his Wahconah Symphonic Band earned a gold medal at the Massachusetts Instrumental Conductors Association Festival.   Mr. Freebern is the proud recipient of the Yale Distinguished Educator award and in 2010 was awarded the Rowland Endowed Chair awarded for excellence in education at Burr and Burton Academy.  

Mr. Freebern is now the founding director of the Media and Performing Arts Department at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont, charged with the continued growth of a viable and progressive program in arts education.  In addition to his teaching responsibilities,  Mr. Freebern is a freelance jazz pianist, arranger and trumpet performer throughout New England.