Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Snyder.
Hi Jenny, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It was just meant to be a hobby at first. At five years old, I started taking piano lessons with the teenage girl who lived next-door to me in Alaska. But I took very quickly to reading music and when she would ask me to work on one piece, I would come back the next week having played through the whole book. So my family suspected I might have a special talent for music
We soon moved to South Dakota and I was very lucky to find an incredible teacher who had studied at Juilliard, Jim MacInnes. He mentored me through many piano competitions and I made my concerto debut at 11. Three important firsts happened the following year when I was 12: I made my solo recital debut, started playing harpsichord regularly with the Black Hills Chamber Music Society, and began to accompany singers at my middle school.
I was hooked: playing music with others was the “team sport” equivalent of musicianship and I loved working together to tell musical stories. This love of making music in collaboration has sustained me ever since.
I went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where I studied piano performance in my undergraduate and accompanying and chamber music for my graduate studies. My collaborations were recognized as I was the first undergraduate ever to win Eastman‘s Excellence in Accompanying award. I also took a keen interest in new music and played with several of the contemporary ensembles there, getting to work with composers like John Adams, John Zorn, and Steve Reich, on whose premier recording of The Desert Music (2001 chamber version) I am featured on synthesizer.
I moved to San Francisco where I played in many musical theater venues and was a répétitrice (rehearsal pianist) for the incomparable mezzo-soprano, Frederica von Stade. This was seminal in helping me focus on my career as a pianist-coach, a pianist who works with singers to help them refine musical details, dramatic interpretation, foreign language diction, and generally prepare them for performance.
I moved to Miami in 2005 and took the position as head coach at Florida International University. I’ve since played for countless vocal recitals and collaborated with instrumentalists in performances throughout the Americas. I enjoy working with phenomenal ensembles like Seraphic Fire and Nu Deco and have also been the pianist and musical director for several religious institutions, for which I compose my own compositions and arrangements.
I began collaborating with singers at the University of Miami in 2016, and am currently on the faculty there as the Music Director for the Frost Opera Theater, as well as a pianist-coach for the classical vocalists. This is an opportunity that allows me to share my love for vocal music and collaboration with audiences and the next generation of musicians.
I live in Coral Gables with my husband, son, and cat. When I’m not working, I enjoy taking early morning runs, cooking adventurous meals, and appreciating the great outdoors.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not always smooth! The schedule of a musician can be unpredictable: late night rehearsals and performances are par for the course. Managing multiple types of gigs in the same day can be challenging, especially in Miami traffic. And some seasons are inevitably busier than others, so time management is key. I also have a teenage son, so I was lucky to be able to lean on the generosity of others in helping to take care of him when he was younger while I was negotiating a tricky schedule.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
(Also see the biographical info given previously.)
I am on the faculty at the University of Miami as the Music Director of the Frost Opera Theater and a coach-pianist for the classical vocalists. I specialize in collaborating with singers and preparing them for their performances, focusing especially on details such as musical and dramatic interpretation and foreign language diction,
I am currently the pianist and music director at a Methodist church where I prepare the choir and instrumentalists, often performing my own compositions and arrangements.
I am a freelance solo and collaborative pianist and enjoy my work with instrumentalists and vocalists, including Seraphic Fire and the Nu Deco Ensemble.
I am most proud of my commitment to authentic and passionate self-expression through musical performance and how I am passing that along to the next generation of musicians.
I am known for attention to musical detail, specificity in my musical direction, and the freedom of my musical expression. I tell my students that they cannot be waiting for some kind of permission to begin expressing themselves fully. The time is now! And I try to live that truth for myself, as well.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I am incredibly grateful to all my piano teachers, but especially to Jim MacInnes who encouraged me to be ambitious and fearless. I’m also indebted to Eastman professor Nelita True for demanding the highest standards of me in my pianism. They have both passed on now, but daily I find notes from them in my music that serve as a reminder to honor their lagacy through my own work.
