Life

Doris Ernestine Hays was born in Memphis, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, and in 1985 adopted her grandmother's family name of Sorrel. She studied music with Harold Cadek at the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 in Chattanooga, graduating in 1963. She continued her education for three years studying with Friedrich Wührer

Friedrich Wührer

Friedrich Wührer was an Austrian-German pianist and piano pedagogue. He was a close associate and advocate of composer Franz Schmidt, whose music he edited and, in the case of the works for left hand alone, revised for performance with two hands; he was also a champion of the Second Viennese...

 and Hedwig Bilgram at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. She then studied with Paul Badura-Skoda

Paul Badura-Skoda

Paul Badura-Skoda is an Austrian pianist.He won first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed with distinguished conductors like Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan...

 and Rudolf Kolisch

Rudolf Kolisch

Rudolf Kolisch was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the Kolisch Quartet and the Pro Arte Quartet. He played a right-handed violin left-handed—an extremely rare occurrence in classical music settings....

 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison

Madison

- Place names :* Madison, Wisconsin, the largest city by the name and the state capital of Wisconsin* Madison, Alabama* Madison, Arkansas* Madison, California* Madison, Connecticut* Madison, Florida* Madison, Georgia* Madison, Illinois* Madison, Indiana...

, graduating with a Master of Music degree.

After completing her studies, Hays taught at Cornell College

Cornell College

Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally called the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by Reverend Samuel M. Fellows...

 in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, and then moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 where she studied with pianist Hilde Somer. In 1971 she won first prize in the Gaudeamus Competition for Interpreters of New Music at Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, and began an international career as a pianist. She is now known as one of the world's foremost performers of cluster

Tone cluster

A tone cluster is a musical chord comprising at least three consecutive tones in a scale. Prototypical tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale, and are separated by semitones. For instance, three adjacent piano keys struck simultaneously produce a tone cluster...

 piano music.

In 1998 Hays was director of a graduate program in electronic music at Yildiz University, Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

. She has also taught as a guest lecturer at colleges and universities including Vassar

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

 and Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

.

Works

Hays composes for stage, films, chamber ensemble and electronic performance. Selected works include:

• Our Giraffe, opera (libretto by Charles Flowers)
• Hands and Lights for piano strings with photocell activated switches and flashlights (1972)
• Tunings for string quartet
• The Glass Woman, opera
• Traveling, based on the microtonal fluctuations of tone generators
• Debushing America
• Take A Back Country Road electronic saxophone, oboe and DX-7

She also works as a film maker, producing films including:

• Disarming the World/Pulling Its Leg, docudrama

Discography

Hays' music has been recorded and issued on media including:

• Dreaming the World, New World Records
• Soundbridge, "90's, A Calendar Bracelet" Opus One 152
• Tone Over Tone, "Past Present and Bits" Opus One 135
• Tellus #17, "Un-Necessary Music" Video Arts Music
• Voicings Smithsonian Folkways
• M.O.M. ‘N P.O.P. for three pianos, Centaur Records
• Sleepers, "Hush" Finnadar /Atlantic 90266
• Adoration of the Clash, "Sunday Nights" on Finnadar/Atlantic
• Riverrun, "Celebration of NO" and "Sound Shadows" on Wergo
• Sorrel Doris Hays Plays Henry Cowell on Townhall Records
• Live performance from the Cowell festival, Berkeley 1997, on New Albion