Ellsworth Snyder

Ellsworth Snyder (May 13, 1931 – August 11, 2005) was an American abstract painter, professional pianist, conductor and scholar. He was known as a champion of avant-garde art and music and is associated with composer John Cage and the Fluxus art movement. He preferred that his name be spelled ellsworth snyder, using all lower-case letters. As pianist and music scholar Snyder’s interest in the avant-garde art movement developed out his formal training in classical music. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Snyder attended The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (now the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati) where he studied with noted pianist Robert Goldsand and the Austro-Hungarian pianist and composer Jenő Takács while earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He also took several classes in Cincinnati with the American musicologist and composer Charles Hamm, who subsequently wrote several piano pieces for Snyder. In 1960 Snyder accepted a position as music instructor at Newcomb College of Tulane University in New Orleans where he began an experimental new music series titled “You’ve never heard anything like it”. The programs ranged from the twelve-tone c