Yehudi Wyner


Yehudi Wyner is an American composer, pianist, conductor and music educator.

Life and career

Wyner, who grew up in New York City, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner, was an eminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale and Harvard, and was a student of Paul Hindemith and Walter Piston. He has written music in a variety of genres, including compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voice and solo instruments, as well as theatrical music and settings of the Jewish liturgy. Among his best-known works are the Friday Evening Service and "Torah Service with Instruments"
for cantor and chorus, and On This Most Voluptuous Night for soprano and chamber ensemble.
Wyner taught for 14 years at Yale, where he was the head of the composition faculty. He also taught at SUNY Purchase, Cornell, Brandeis and Harvard.
In 2006, Wyner won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his piano concerto Chiavi in Mano.

Personal life

Wyner was married to Nancy Braverman from 1951 to 1966, with whom he had three children – Isaiah, Adam, and Cassia. He married soprano Susan Davenny-Wyner in 1967.
He graduated from Yale University and Harvard University.

Selected works