Lester Freedman (June 6, 1921 - May 29, 1994,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

)"Saying Goodbye to an Eventful Year", ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'', January 1, 1995 was an American opera director. In 1959 he founded the

Toledo Opera The Toledo Opera is an American opera company in Toledo, Ohio, performing in the Valentine Theatre in downtown Toledo. The company's season consists of three fully-realized operas, plus additional community programming for the Northwest Ohio regi ...

and in 1960 he founded the

Dayton Opera Dayton Opera is an American opera company based in Dayton, Ohio. The company makes its home at the Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton where it annually produces three operas and an operatic concert and has an annual budget of appro ...

. He led both organizations concurrently until 1981 when he resigned from his post in Dayton. In May 1983 he was fired from his position as director of the Toledo Opera after 24 years of service. His termination was preceded by several years of financial difficulties and in-fighting between Freedman and several of the opera board's members. The following year he founded the Lyric Opera Association of Toledo.

References

1921 births 1994 deaths American opera directors {{opera-bio-stub