Maggie Snyder is the Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Viola at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, Artist-Faculty at the Brevard Music Center, and Principal Violist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York.
As a performer, commissioner, and curator, Maggie’s creative work has increasingly focused on creating, discovering, and bringing to the stage music by women composers. Her multi-year VIOLA2020 project commissioned new works by Gabriela Lena Frank and Gity Razaz and used international calls for scores by women to discover additional repertoire, culminating in the 2023 Arabesque Records release Women’s Writes for Solo Viola. Her 2025 album, Women’s Work for Viola: Sounds of Discovery, continued that work through new commissions, a call for scores, and the recovery of overlooked repertoire by women.
Her newest project, Balancing Bach, expands that work dramatically.
BALANCING BACH
What happens when Bach becomes a point of departure rather than a destination?
Balancing Bach is a five-year commissioning, performance, recording, dance, and education project created and curated by Maggie Snyder. Beginning with Bach’s six Cello Suites, the project will create a new body of repertoire for viola through major commissions from American women composers and international calls for scores by women.
The goal is larger than twelve new works. I is to create enough excellent repertoire to begin changing the ecology of what violists can choose to play.
Dreaming big: Explore Balancing Bach →
