Jennifer Butler is a composer, teacher, and flutist living in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Her music, described as “beautifully remote” (Vancouver Sun), “intimate” (Globe and Mail), and “disquieting” (Vancouver Observer), has been commissioned, performed, and broadcast across Canada, in the United States, Australia, and Europe. She holds both a Master’s degree and Doctorate in music composition from the University of British Columbia.
Recent projects include: The End of the World (or else the beginning), commissioned by the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra for Flutist Mark Mcgregor and the Borealis String Quartet; Songs for Klee Wyck, commissioned by Victoria’s Emily Carr String Quartet with Marion Newman; Four Horses, a song cycle written with Peter Anderson for Mark McGregor, Dory Hayley and Adrian Verdejo; and The Stars Have Closed Their Eyes, commissioned by Bradyworks for the electric guitar quartet Instruments of Happiness. She is currently working on recording an album of her music, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Jennifer has been commissioned and performed by outstanding artists such as the Vancouver Symphony, The Emily Carr String Quartet, the Vancouver Island Symphony, Rachel Iwaasa and Mark McGregor, Continuum Contemporary Music (Toronto), The Victoria Symphony, the Western Front (Vancouver), Redshift (Vancouver), the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, The Motion Ensemble (Seattle), Vancouver New Music, and Aventa (Victoria).
Jennifer maintains a private studio of composition students and has recently joined the faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music. She is also a Teaching Artist with Vancouver Opera and a composer mentor with the Turning Point Ensemble. Jennifer is currently the Chair for the advisory committee for the BC region of the CMC, and is an active board member for Redshift music and the Standing Wave Ensemble. She was President of the Canadian League of Composers from 2011-14 and was an active member of R. Murray Schafer’s Wolf Project from 2000-2016.