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Artist
Sylvia Meyer
12+ albums
female vocalistpianoalternativeexperimentalenglish
about
Sylvia Meyer (November 23, 1907 - March 26, 2005) was an American harpist who became the first female member of the National Symphony Orchestra. Sylvia Meyer was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the child of Balthasar H. Meyer, an interstate commerce commissioner. She studied music at the Academy of the Holy Cross near Washington, D.C., and graduated from the Western High School in 1924. She attended the University of Wisconsin from where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in geology.[1] She also was a graduate of the Peabody Institute, a conservatory associated with the Johns Hopkins University, from where she received a teacher's certificate and the Artist's Diploma, the first harpist to do so.[2][3] Meyer trained at the harp with Carlos Salzedo in Camden, Maine, who taught her a style of aggressive playing. He recommended her to Hans Kindler, the then conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), which she joined in 1933.[1] Meyer also performed concerts for the National Concert Association. She received praise for her performance of Giovanni Battista Pescetti's Sonata in C Minor, a technically challenging piece, as well as compositions by Salzedo designed to exploit the full potential of the harp.[4] In 1939, she joined the Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia as a part-time instructor in harp.[5] In 1966, Meyer needed plastic surgery to restore a fingertip after a gardening accident. She recovered, but was forced to leave the NSO following her long medical
