Discipline: Music Composition

Violet Archer

Discipline: Music Composition
Region: Edmonton, CANADA
MacDowell Fellowships: 1956
Violet Louise Archer (1913 –2000) was a Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, organist, and percussionist. Born Violet Balestreri in Montreal, her family changed their name to Archer in 1940. A seminal figure in Canadian composition, Archer created a distinguished body of work during a career that spanned six decades. Her music was heralded and performed around the world, and earned honors and awards for her both in Canada and abroad. Dr. Archer wrote more than 280 compositions. Her repertoire is wide and extensive, ranging from music for solo flute to electronic music, with an emphasis on chamber music, choral music, and songs for solo voice and piano. Her teaching career was extensive and she was very active in the guiding of young composers. Many of her former composition students both in Canada and the United States are now professionals and recognized in their fields.

Studios

Monday Music

Violet Archer worked in the Monday Music studio.

Given to the residency by the Monday Music Club of Orange, NJ, Monday Music Studio is sited next to an enormous boulder deposited by glaciers thousands of years ago. A small dormer once pierced the east slope of the roof, but after damage suffered in the 1938 hurricane, the roof was rebuilt without the dormer. The interior…

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