Background
Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a chemical engineer who had graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and her mother was a mathematics teacher and graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a chemical engineer who had graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and her mother was a mathematics teacher and graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Wellesley College.
Freeman was a graduate of Wellesley College (1942), where she majored in English literature with a minor in music She had originally trained to be a concert pianist, practicing six to eight hours per day for twenty years, but eventually, by the mid-1960s, gave up this dream to pursue concert managing Their marriage ended in divorce.
Freeman"s second marriage was to the Italian sculptor and painter Franco Assetto (1911-1991), with whom she lived half of each year in Turin.
The marriage lasted until Assetto"s death. Freeman was a long-standing supporter of contemporary music, with grants and commissions to various American composers early in their careers.
The composers she assisted include Lou Harrison, John Cage, Louisiana Monte Young, Christopher Rouse, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Anders Hillborg, Pierre Boulez, Harrison Birtwistle, Virgil Thomson, Helmut Lachenmann, and Kaija Saariaho. The American gamelan Si Betty, built by Harrison and William Colvig in 1979, was named for Freeman.
Bequeathed by Harrison to long-time collaborator and composer Jody Diamond, it has been housed at Harvard University since 2007.
Freeman financed a 1973 documentary film about the composer and instrument builder Harry Partch, The Dreamer That Remains. She subsequently developed an interest in photography. She wrote books about the American artists Clyfford Still and Sam Francis.
She was also an art collector.
Betty Freeman interview Betty Freeman interview from New Music Box.