Yehudi Wyner

Yehudi Wyner was born on June 1, 1929, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and grew up in New York City. A composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator, he was raised in a musical household; his father, Lazar Weiner, was a noted composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner made his Broadway debut in 1942, appearing in Johnny 2 X 4.

Wyner pursued an extensive formal education in music, earning a diploma from the Juilliard School in 1946, followed by a B.A. and B.Mus. from Yale University in 1950 and 1951 respectively, an M.A. from Harvard University in 1952, and an M.Mus. from Yale in 1953. Among his teachers were Paul Hindemith and Walter Piston. His studies were supported early on by the A.E. Hertz Fellowship in 1953 and the Rome Prize Fellowship, which he held from 1953 to 1956.

His compositional output spans orchestral works, chamber music, solo instrumental pieces, vocal music, theatrical music, and settings of the Jewish liturgy. Widely recognized works include Friday Evening Service (1963), Torah Service with Instruments (1966) for cantor and chorus, and On This Most Voluptuous Night (1982) for soprano and chamber ensemble. His piano concerto Chiavi in Mano (2004) earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2006. He had previously been a Pulitzer finalist in 1997–1998.

Wyner's teaching career spanned several decades and multiple institutions. He served for fourteen years on the faculty at Yale University, where he headed the composition department, and also taught at SUNY Purchase, Cornell, Brandeis, and Harvard. He held the Naumburg Chair in Composition in 1991. Among his notable students were Chester Biscardi and Craig Walsh.

His honors include two Guggenheim Fellowships (1960 and 1976–1977), a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1976), a Brandeis University Creative Arts Award (1963), a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant (1961), the Elise L. Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for contributions to chamber music (1997–1998), membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2001–2002), and election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

Wyner was married to Nancy Braverman from 1951 to 1966, and they had three children together. He married soprano Susan Davenny-Wyner in 1967.