June Schneider (née Benjamin; 15 June 1939àâ 22 Julyà2020) was a South African musicologist, composer and lecturer. She is known for her research on Richard Strauss, contributions to electronic music, and her involvement in music therapy and adult education in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. A champion of music and dance, esteemed professor, and critic she obtained her PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand at the age ofà23âÂÂthe youngest doctoral candidate in the university's history.
June Schneider was born on 15 June 1939 in Johannesburg. She studied piano with Isador Epstein and graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Music with Honours (BMus Hons) in 1960. She was granted exemption from a master's degree and proceeded directly to doctoral studies under Professor Friedrich Hartmann.
In 1959, she won the Julius Robinson Scholarship, which allowed her to travel overseas in 1961âÂÂ1962 to conduct research on the composer Richard Strauss. During this time, she met Strauss's son in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and studied many original manuscripts and papers. Her doctoral thesis, completed in 1962, was titled Devices employed by Richard Strauss in his opera Salomé in the service of the poetic idea.
Schneider held multiple academic and advisory roles throughout her career. From 1961 to 1962, she was a lecturer and adviser to the African Music and Drama Association. Between 1962 and 1963, she worked as an honorary part-time music therapist at TaraâÂÂa psychiatric hospital in Johannesburg. Beginning in 1965, she lectured at the Institute of Adult Studies.
In 1967, Schneider was awarded a British Council grant to travel to London at the invitation of Hephzibah Menuhin-Hauser, to assist in a survey on creativity in music. Her work in electronic music, public lectures, and published articles contributed to her reputation as an independent thinker. She contributed regularly to South African journals "To the Point" and "Artlook", writing about contemporary music, as well as previewing and reviewing concerts for the Sunday Times.
She joined the Music Department of her alma mater University of the Witwatersrand in 1971, lecturing in musicology and composition. Her students included composers Kevin Volans and Michael Blake. Schneider and her family emigrated to the United States in 1977 for reasons of conscience, having been critical of South Africa's apartheid system and believing in the liberal traditions of academic freedom and advancement by merit. They settled in Atlanta and became U.S. citizens in 1983.
She taught on the music faculties of Emory University and Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia. There she developed the exhibition âÂÂSensationâ at the High Museum of Art alongside Pamela Bray, for the inauguration of the new building designed by Richard Meier. Framed as a âÂÂfunâÂÂfilled learning and doing experience,â the show deliberately moved beyond traditional, purely visual displays by inviting visitors to engage all five senses. Its centrepiece installations included a walkâÂÂin eyeball (a camera obscura demonstrating vision), a climbâÂÂon, slideâÂÂdown ear sculpture that revealed how sound travels through the eardrum and inner bones, and an oversized model of lips and tongue mapping the four basic taste zones. By emphasising handsâÂÂon, participatory interaction with art, music, science and technology, âÂÂSensationâ sought to dissolve the mind/body divide typical of modern museums and foreground the visitor's own sensory experience. Schneider also coâÂÂfounded the Children's Museum of Atlanta, and, after relocating to New York, she helped revamp the Children's Museum of Manhattan, curating exhibitions such as a retrospective on the artist Maira Kalman.
Schneider also worked as a dance critic for The Atlanta JournalâÂÂConstitution, and served on the boards of American Ballet Theatre and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
Schneider died in New York onà22àJulyà2020, agedà81. She was actively involved in establishing the University of the Witwatersrand Fund Inc.; ViceâÂÂChancellor Adam Habib acknowledged her âÂÂenormous contribution to her alma mater.âÂÂ
Composer Kevin Volans (BMusà1972) has recalled that Schneider encouraged him to write his undergraduate thesis on Karlheinz StockhausenâÂÂand later dedicated his works Looping Point (2012) and Turning Point (2013) to her.
She was the honorary patron of composer Michael Blake's Orion Ensemble (1975âÂÂ1977), which promoted the performance and composition of contemporary music in South Africa, and Blake dedicated two works to her: Night Music (1977) for chamber ensemble and Ixilongo (2021) for horn, 12 off-stage horns and ambient tape.
In November 2024, Hoofstraat Conceptual in the Swartland town Riebeek-Kasteel presented Soundaround, a mini-festival of new music curated by Blake. Schneider's 1977 composition Soundaround was performed alongside Ulrich SüÃÂe's Musicians plus One (1998) and Blake's early Five Pieces for Piccolo and Tuba (1971), with musicians placed among the audience as part of the aleatoric performance. The event was recorded for release on CD by the Africa Open Institute in 2025.