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Photograph of Nancy Snider

Nancy Snider Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer Performing Arts

Additional Positions at AU
Hurst Senior Professional Lecturer
Applied Music Program, Director
Degrees
BM, Cello Performance, The Catholic University of America (cum laude)
L’Ecole Superior, Conservatoire Europeen de Musique de Paris (student of Mark Drobinsky)

Favorite Spot on Campus
The DAV
Bio
Nancy Jo Snider, ‘cello (she/her/any)
Cellist and educator Nancy Jo Snider is a member of the Opera Lafayette Orchestra and performs regularly in a variety of chamber and period instrument ensembles in venues ranging from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theatre and L'Opèra Royal de Versailles, to experimental stages and living rooms. Performance highlights have included collaborations with Trisha Yearwood, Miřenka Čechová (Spitfire Company, Czech Republic), Modern Musick, Shakespeare Theatre, Folger Consort (notably a performance featuring Sir Derek Jacobi), Washington Ballet, Washington Bach Consort and VERGE. She is a passionate advocate for new music and co-founded the new music collective INTERFERENCE with Steve Antosca and William Brent in 2015.
Ms. Snider was Director of the AU Music Program for many years and is now proud to be the Director of the Applied Music Program at American University. She received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year in an Adjunct Appointment Award early in her career and currently serves on the full-time music faculty in the position of Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer. She is a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher who derives much joy from sharing what she loves with others.
Ms. Snider performed in South Africa with the Spitfire Company at the 2013 National Arts Festival where the production was awarded “Best Overseas Production.” She has enjoyed continued performing opportunities in New York, France, South Africa and Russia and, as a Fellow of the Likhachev Foundation in 2016, delivered a lecture at St. Petersburg State University about music in the 21st century. Her lecture at the Hirschhorn Museum, Music in the work of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartensson was also a notable highlight
Summer 2019 found her with INTERFERENCE new music collective performing “Ma” (co-created with composer Steve Antosca) at the Zero Point Festival in Prague.
She lived in Nairobi, Kenya from May-December 2019 and served as a Visiting Lecturer at US International University-Africa to work on curriculum development and performance. While in Kenya, she taught outstanding young musicians in the Kibera informal settlement (slum) and is eager to return to that amazing work.
During the pandemic months, in addition to a rigorous online teaching schedule, she gave a couple of live, outdoor, socially distanced concerts for her neighbors, co-presented and performed at the New Music DC conference and presented a number of online music shares/formal concerts for various audiences.
In 2022 she did a residency presenting and performing electroacoustic in Madrid, returned to work with some amazing young musicians and artists in Nairobi in both 2022 and 2023 and was back in Nairobi working with the students and teachers of S’Cool Sounds Kenya in July 2024.
See Also
Department of Performing Arts
Music Program
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • CORE-106 Complex Problems Seminar: Decolonzng Mind Through Music

  • HNRS-150 AU Honors Exper Learning

  • MUS-001 Applied Music Performance Lab

  • MUS-021 Private Instrument Study: Cello

  • MUS-022 Private Instrument Study: Cello

  • MUS-121 Private Instrument/Vocal Study: Cello

  • MUS-122 Private Instrument/Vocal Study: Cello

  • PERF-446 Senior Colloquium in Music

Spring 2025

  • HNRS-151 AU Honors Research Experience: Arts in Action

  • MUS-001 Applied Music Performance Lab

  • MUS-021 Private Instrument Study: Cello

  • MUS-022 Private Instrument Study: Cello

  • MUS-100 Introductory Music Colloquium

  • MUS-121 Private Instrument/Vocal Study: Cello

  • MUS-122 Private Instrument/Vocal Study: Cello

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • Sitar Arts Center
    Outreach, work with at-risk youth in the arts

  • Washington Conservatory of Music
    Advisory

  • Spinoza Practice Club: Because Practice is its Own Reward!
    Faculty Advisor

  • S'Cool Sounds
    Board Member/Advisor

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Recordings

  • Gluck: “Orphée et Euridice” (2005)
  • Sacchini: “Oedipe à Colone”  (2006)
  • Rameau: “Airs and Dances” (2007) 
  • Lully: “Armide” (2008)

Professional Services

  • Opera Lafayette
  • Washington Bach Consort
  • Cantate Chamber Singers
  • Washington Ballet
  • Modern Musick