David Freeman Coleman

Image by Fadie Coleman

David Freeman Coleman

Associate Professor
Affiliated Departments
Africana Studies Department
gospel music
piano

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David Freeman Coleman is actively involved in theater and gospel music throughout New England. He has served as music director and rehearsal pianist for several productions, including the 2012 Tony Award–winning production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and Ain't Misbehavin', for which he received a 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Direction. 

Choirmaster and pianist for the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, he also has experience working with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Mariah Carey, Bobby McFerrin, Patti Labelle, Richard Smallwood, BeBe Winans, Phish, and Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling. He has performed at the House of Blues, the Wang Center, Fenway Park, Symphony Hall, the Vatican, Carnegie Hall, and the White House. In 2010, BBC World News America featured Coleman in its “First Person” series, which was broadcast to 300 million people worldwide.

Coleman holds a Master of Arts in music composition and theory from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Music in both piano performance and theory/composition from Boston University. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the American Society of Composers and Arrangers (ASCAP). 

Career Highlights
  • Founder and director of contemporary gospel ensemble Confirmation, with five CDs, including the award-winning The Jesus is the Man Project
  • 20-year director of the 225-voice Tufts University Third Day Gospel Choir
  • Featured playwright/composer in Moonbox Productions' 1st Boston New Works Festival: SISTER SCHOOL, a new musical, 2022
  • Music Director for WILD: A Musical Becoming, starring Idina Menzel, 2021
  • Commissioned by the Boston Pops for a composition featured in Holiday at Pops: "The Good News Voyage," 2022
  • Featured soloist and cohost for Boston Pops concert "The Roots of Jazz," 2021
  • Choir leader for Mariah Carey's Christmas Tour, 2019
  • Featured speaker at TEDx Natick: "Superhero Theory," 2016
  • Featured performer at the White House, 2014
  • Rehearsal pianist for The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, starring Audra McDonald, 2011
     
Awards
  • Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Music Direction for Ain't Misbehavin', 2023
  • New England Urban Music Awards for Best Gospel CD and Best Gospel Male for The Jesus is the Man Project, 2013
  • New England Conservatory Thomas A. Dorsey Award, 2007
In Their Own Words
"Learning, appreciating, and caring about the experiences of others draws us closer together as a global people."
"As a music director, I work in churches, theaters, concert halls, and classrooms, which allow me the privilege of interacting with a diverse cross-section of people from all over the world. This experience helps me to create inclusion in the classroom, and my 30-plus years of professional work give me several opportunities to share what I've learned and continue to learn."

David Coleman & Boston Pops - "Charleston"