Biography of Anne-Elise Keefer

Flutist Anne-Elise Keefer enjoys a busy international career as a soloist, recording artist, orchestral musician and educator based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra since 1986, and has played Principal Flute in the Abbotsford Symphony since 1995. As a freelance artist she has performed with the Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, CBC Radio Orchestra, Orchestra London, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, played eight major Broadway musicals including Miss Saigon and Phantom of the Opera, played with nine ballet companies including National Ballet of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Kiev Ballet, and has appeared in concert with such luminaries as Luciano Pavarotti, Ben Heppner and Ray Charles. In January of 2004, Ms. Keefer was invited to audition for the position of Principal Flute in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Having received her early musical training from her mother, Euphrosyne Keefer, Anne-Elise studied at the University of Toronto with Robert Aitken, Nicholas Fiore and Louis Moyse. After graduating with a Master's Degree in Music Performance and Literature, she received three Canada Council Arts Grants to pursue doctoral studies in Europe with Norwegian flutist, Ornulf Gulbransen.

A six-year veteran of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, she continued her musical studies by attending masterclasses in the United States and Europe with Marcel Moyse, William Bennett, James Galway, Geoffrey Gilbert and baroque flute specialist, Hans-Martin Linde.

Ms. Keefer performed as a soloist to critical acclaim in England, France, Italy, Norway and Yugoslavia, was frequently broadcast on radio and television in Europe, and played a private concert for King Olav V of Norway. She was a prizewinner at eight competitions in Canada and abroad, including the Ancona International Flute Competition (Italy), the Concert Artists' Guild Competition in New York City and the Canadian Music Competitions.

Ms. Keefer has played over 130 solo recitals and CBC broadcasts across Canada, has appeared at the Marlboro Festival in Vermont, and has performed concertos with a variety of international orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Abbotsford Symphony. She has recorded discs with Maureen Forrester, Toronto Children's Chorus, Vancouver New Music Society, Canadian Music Centre and "Ancient Cultures ", and has released three solo CD's entitled Far Other Worlds, and The River of Golden Dreams Volumes I and II.

A faculty member at the University of Western Ontario for five years, she has also taught at Boltelokka College (Oslo), the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia, Douglas College and the Vancouver Academy of Music, where she is Head of the Suzuki Flute Programme.

Her summers have been spent teaching at the Toronto Music Camp, London Music Camp, National Music Camp, Huntington College Music Camp (Laurentian University), Pacific Rim Festival and Courtenay Youth Music Centre. Ms. Keefer has adjudicated widely in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and is in demand as a flute clinician.

An avid athlete, she is a scuba divemaster and loves to swim, ski, sail and horseback ride. She is a proud wife and mother of two daughters, and lives in a house full of pets in Richmond, British Columbia.