Dr. Donald Callen Freed seeks to fuse the elements of cosmopolitan materials with rural simplicity in his music. He cites the music of Debussy, Hindemith, Sondheim, Bernstein, and nativist sounds as being influential in his stylistic development.

Dr. Freed is a published choral composer with Yelton Rhodes Music and was also previously published by Moon of Hope Publishing until it ceased in 2010. His compositions have been heard through the choirs of Hastings College and Sul Ross State University, as well as by the College Music Society regional composition programs and in high schools, colleges and universities, and churches. He is a member of ASCAP, where he has also received ASCAPlus awards since 2000.

Dr. Freed is a Professor Emeritus of Music at Sul Ross State University, Alpine. Texas, where he taught voice and choral music, and was head of the music program. He was also appointed Composer-in-Residence at Sul Ross, beginning in 2010. Dr. Freed retired to Omaha, Nebraska in August 2018. He previously served as Instructor of Music at Hastings College, Instructor of Voice at the University of Nebraska, and Director of Choral Activities at Peru State College (Nebraska). He holds degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University (BM), where he had formal composition instruction with Robert Morrow, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MM, PhD). His articles have appeared in The Choral Journal, for which he is a regular reviewer of books, and the Journal of Singing. A stroke survivor, he is also interested in issues of vocal rehabilitation. He composes for and sings with several choral groups in the Omaha area, including the River City Mixed Chorus and Madrigali et al., as well as art songs, many with original texts, and some instrumental and piano works. He is a native Nebraskan, born in Holdrege, Phelps County, and growing up on a fourth-generation family farm near Loomis.

One of the many sources he draws upon is the life and writings of his partner. Larry P. Ebmeier (1950-2011). Larry was a pharmacist, but also a gifted writer, novelist, artist, and designer. He provides the texts for some choral pieces and art songs and is the inspiration for others.