Yehudi Wyner is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, pianist

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, and music educator.

Wyner, who grew up in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner

Lazar Weiner

Lazar Weiner was a Ukrainian-born, American-naturalized composer of Yiddish song. He emigrated to America at the age of 17 and later became the music director of the Central Synagogue, New York.-Works:...

, was an eminent composer of Yiddish

Yiddish language

Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...

 art song

Art song

An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs....

s. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, and Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. He has written music in a variety of genres, including compositions for orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, chamber ensembles

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, solo voice, and solo instruments, as well as theatrical music and settings of the Jewish liturgy

Jewish services

Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....

. Among his best-known works are the Friday Evening Service (1963) for cantor

Hazzan

A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...

 and chorus

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, and On This Most Voluptuous Night (1982) for soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 and chamber ensemble.

Wyner taught for fourteen years at Yale, where he was head of the composition faculty. He has also taught at SUNY Purchase

State University of New York at Purchase

Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...

, Cornell

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Brandeis

Brandeis University

Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...

, and Harvard.

In 2006, Wyner won the Pulitzer Prize for Music

Pulitzer Prize for Music

The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...

 for his piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...

Chiavi in Mano. http://www.pulitzer.org/2006/2006.html http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/4365.html

Selected works

• Partita - for piano, 1952
• Concert duo for violin and piano (1956)
• Serenade for flute, horn, trumpet, trombone, viola, ’cello, piano (1958)
• The Mirror (1972-3)
• Intermedio - Lyric ballet for soprano and strings - October 1974
• The Grass is High - for voice and piano (1979)
• String quartet (1984-1985)
• Composition for viola and piano (1987)
• Trapunto Junction for trumpet, French horn, trombone and percussion
• Amadeus’ billiard : for violin, viola, bass, bassoon and 2 horns : (cf. Mozart—Divertimento no. 7, K. 205) (1991)
• Prologue and narrative : for cello and orchestra (1994)
• Horntrio (1997)
• The second madrigal: Voices of women (1999)
• Quartet for oboe and stringtrio (1999) (http://www.schirmer.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=3&ComposerID_2872=3050&CategoryID_2872=37)
• Commedia : for clarinet in B♭ and piano (2003)
• Give Thanks for All Things for orchestra and chorus (2010)

Degrees

• Yale University, M.Mus. (1953)
• Harvard University, M.A. (1952)
• Yale University, B.Mus. (1951)
• Yale University, B.A. (1950)
• Juilliard School, Diploma (1946)

Discography (incomplete)

• YEHUDI WYNER: ‘CHIAVI IN MANO,’ OTHER WORKS. Robert Levin, pianist; Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano; other performers. Bridge 9282; CD

External links

• Hear Yehudi Wyner in concert from WGBH Boston
• Interview with Yehudi Wyner by Bruce Duffie, December 19, 1994