Reimagining Miriam Hyde: A Forgotten Visionary of Australian Music

With your support, I will research, produce, and present the extraordinary early life of teenage virtuoso and synesthete Dr Miriam Hyde (b. 1913).

Miriam Hyde is a name familiar to many in Australian music — composer, pianist, poet, educator. Her contributions are widely respected, her exam pieces fondly remembered. But beyond the polished public image lies a more complex, multifaceted woman — one whose true depth has rarely been acknowledged.

Hyde was not only an extraordinary musical talent; she was what we now recognise as twice-exceptional: profoundly gifted and neurodivergent.

Through her carefully preserved personal archives—which she kept “perhaps for a research scholar in the future…” she reveals a uniquely vivid, sensory world. These documents offer powerful insight into a mind that perceived reality in ways few understood, even in her lifetime. 

During her student years at the Royal College of Music in London, Hyde wrote 166 letters rich with synesthetic references. She frequently described keys and harmonies in terms of colour and emotion, documenting her experiences through drawings, poetry, photography, and prose — in addition to music. Her exceptional auditory memory, compositional fluency, and vivid visualisation of sound point unmistakably to synesthesia, a trait she shared with other twice-exceptional individuals such as Albert Einstein.Yet this deeply sensory, neurodivergent experience of the world was all but erased from the narrative surrounding her. 

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The public story has often reduced her to an elderly woman who wrote accessible piano exam pieces in Sydney, overshadowing the vibrant, courageous, and original young artist who left Adelaide to conquer London. The erasure of her synesthesia and neurodivergence reflects a broader cultural silence around gifted women who do not fit traditional molds.

That Miriam Hyde’s legacy exists at all is largely due to her own persistence. After retiring from the AMEB, she embarked on a solo performing career, culminating in a triumphant return to the Royal College of Music at age 84 — giving a recital from memory. Her self-discipline, intellect, and artistic integrity remained undiminished throughout her life.

As a fellow synesthete and musician, I feel a profound connection to Hyde’s inner world. Her story will be at the heart of a new project celebrating South Australian creativity, featuring local history, musicians, and filmmakers. Drawing on exclusive access to Hyde’s journals, letters, artwork and photographs — now stored across multiple archives — we aim to reintroduce Miriam as she truly was: a synesthetic virtuoso, visionary thinker, and passionate communicator.

 This project builds on the success of my Musica Viva In Schools program Colours of Home, which introduced thousands of students to the sensory richness of synesthesia through music.

Now, I hope to bring Hyde’s story to broader public awareness, aligning with current state and national discussions around neurodiversity, education, mental health, and the arts.With your support, we can shift the national portrait of Miriam Hyde — from a misunderstood figure of the past to a pioneering voice for gifted, neurodivergent women. Through her music, poetry, art, and letters, we’ll share her insights on feminism, 1930s London, conversations with Vaughan Williams, and the toll of neurodiverse burnout.

Publishing this material not only honours her legacy—it challenges us to see intelligence, creativity and difference in a new light.

Because representation matters.

Because gifted, neurodivergent women have always existed — and still struggle to be understood on their own terms.

Reading Miriam’s words has been personally transformative: like meeting a kindred spirit across time. I believe it’s time the world met that Miriam too — the one who saw music in colour and lived life with extraordinary imagination.

“Synesthesia changes the way a child perceives the world. A synesthetic child is not like other children. A synesthete perceives the world in unique ways…” — Julia Simner, Multisense Lab, University of Edinburgh

Donate to the Meeting Miriam Project

Classical music is for everyone, not just those in a concert hall. This project’s ambition to increase access and awareness for what music can bring to everyone is an exciting venture…’ 

– Mark Wigglesworth, Chief Conductor Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Experience a mesmerising fusion of art, nature, and sound with Arc en Ciel by Biennial Artist Celia Craig. Inspired by her synesthesia—the blending of senses—four diverse musical partners create a captivating soundscape. 

Arc en Ciel features distinct voices weaving together in gradual, improvised harmony. This immersive, art-inspired experience invites you into a serene world of deep listening, where music, colour, and nature unite in an unforgettable journey of sensory discovery.

When was the last time you truly took a break? No screens, no distractions—just space to think, breathe, and soak in nature around you? Science shows that time spent immersed in nature and art isn’t just relaxing—it boosts clarity, reduces stress, and sparks creativity.

Join Celia Craig and Caspar Hawksley, the duo behind the hit neurodiversity schools show Colours of Home, for Arc en Ciel. In Celia’s Biennial Artist series, they are joined by cello virtuoso Thomas Marlin, and jazz flugelhorn star Harrison Smith, to create a unique and relaxing musical experience.

Let the sounds evolve, blending slowly and seamlessly into an hour of deep listening, that washes over you in harmony.

Step outside the chaos of everyday life and into a moment of calm, creativity, and connection with Arc en Ciel—where nature, art, and music unite.