Wyner, Yehudi (1929– )

US composer, conductor, and pianist. His works include a range of orchestra and chamber music, as well as voice and liturgical pieces, for example Friday Evening Service (1963) for cantor and chorus. He won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for music for his piano concerto Chiavi in Mano.

He graduated from the Juilliard School, New York, in 1946, and received his bachelor's degree in music from Yale in 1951. The following year he studied at Harvard with German composer Paul Hindemith and US composer Walter Piston, earning his master's degree in 1952. He taught at Yale University (1963–77), was professor of music at Purchase, New York (1978–90), and at Brandeis University (from 1989). His wife, the opera singer Susan Davenny (1945– ), has premiered several of his pieces, many of which were written for her.

Works Da Camera for piano and orchestra (1967); Intermedia for soprano and strings (1974); On This Most Voluptuous Night for soprano and seven instruments (1982); wind quintet (1984); string quartet (1985); Changing Time for ensemble (1991); cello concerto (1994); piano concerto Chiavi in Mano (2005).