Meneely-Kyder, Sarah
Meneely-Kyder, Sarah
Meneely-Kyder, Sarah, American composer, pianist, and sitar player; b. Albany, N.Y., Feb. 18, 1945. She studied theory and piano at Goucher Coll. (B.A., 1967); also had composition studies with Robert Hall Lewis (from 1966), Earle Brown at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore (MM., 1969), and Robert Morris at the Yale School of Music (M.M.A., 1973); also studied the sitar and vina for 10 years. Her early works were serial or atonal in design; later she experimented with controlled improvisation, and spatial and proportional systems; still later she concentrated upon fusing disparate musical styles, making use of North Indian nota-tional systems and instrumentations. She hails from a family of bell manufacturers who established the Me-neely Foundry in Troy, N.Y.
Works
Piano Concerto (1967); Homegrown for Piano (1973); Lament for Sitar and Renaissance Instruments (1978); Filarmonico for Chorus, Piano, Vibraphone, and Gamelan Chimes (1980; rev. 1986, 1988); Now I Sing Only 1 Song for 2 Pianos (1980); Weep, the Mighty Typhoons for Mezzo-soprano and Piano (1982); Narcissus for Clarinet (1983); Season Phases for Piano (1987–88); The 3 Gunas for Piano, 4-Hands, Violin, Cello, Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon (1989).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire