Archer, Violet Balestreri

▪ 2001

      Canadian composer (b. April 24, 1913, Montreal, Que.—d. Feb. 21, 2000, Ottawa, Ont.), was an accomplished musician whose large body of work encompassed a variety of genres. She was also a highly regarded musical educator. After studying composition at McGill University, Montreal, and Yale University, Archer began a long teaching career, which included stints at North Texas State College from 1950 to 1953 and the University of Oklahoma from 1953 to 1961. She returned to Canada in 1962, where she taught theory and composition at the University of Alberta until her retirement from teaching in 1978. Although Archer's compositions never attained widespread popularity, they were critically acclaimed, and by the time of her death, interest in her work was growing. Her compositions included, most notably, the virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1 (1956), the comic opera Sganarelle (1973), and Evocations (1987), a piano and orchestral work inspired by Inuit and Tsimshian melodies. Archer was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983.

* * *