Dr. Allan Friedman is proud to direct both the Duke Chorale and SONAM (Singers of New and Ancient Music). He also teaches a variety of courses in the Music Department. Recently he was awarded Duke’s Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award for the 2023-24 Academic Year.  In addition to this teaching and conducting work, he serves as the Director of Music at Judea Reform Congregation. He is a proud alumnus of Duke University (T ’99) with a Music Major, including studies in South Africa with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a Masters in Music (Musicology) from UNC – Chapel Hill (2001), and a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from Boston University (2005) with a dissertation on Russian Jewish Choral Music where he led several different choral ensembles.

Allan is also an active music teacher and clinician in the Triangle, teaching music history courses for retirees, training young conductors at Duke, and leading choral clinics and workshops throughout the state.

In addition to conducting and teaching, Allan is an accomplished composer and arranger, having enjoyed several successful performances of his choral compositions and arrangements, most notably his Holocaust cantata With Perfect Faith, his choral cycle for women entitled The Nine Muses, and Miriam, Maryam, and Maria – a Refugee Song.