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Biography
(b. 9 May 1939, Toronto, Ontario).
Canadian composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, vocal, and piano works that have been performed in Europe and North America.
Prof. Mather began private studies in piano at age six and private studies in composition at age seven. He studied composition with John Beckwith, Oskar Morawetz and Godfrey Ridout and piano with Alberto Guerrero at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he received his BMus in 1959. He attended a course in composition with Roy Harris in Toronto in 1955, attended the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado in 1957–58, where he studied piano with Alexander Uninsky, and studied analysis with Olivier Messiaen, composition with Darius Milhaud, counterpoint and fugue with Simone Plé-Caussade, and piano with Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 1959–62, on a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. He studied composition with Leland Smith at Stanford University from 1962–64 and there earned his MA, then studied composition with John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto, where he earned his DMus in 1967.
Among his honours are the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music from the Canada Council for the Arts (1979, for Musique pour Champigny; 1993, for Yquem) and the Prix Serge-Garant from the Fondation Émile-Nelligan in Montréal (2000, for his œuvre). In addition, his music has represented Canada three times at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (1965, for Symphonic Ode; 1969, for Madrigal II; 1971, for Sonata [2 pianos]).
He is also active in other positions. As a pianist, he has performed contemporary music, often in collaboration with his wife, the pianist Pierrette LePage. As a writer, he has contributed articles and essays to numerous publications, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
He taught analysis, composition and harmony at McGill University in Montréal from 1966–2001.
Productions
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Artist Information
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