Name Esther Rofe Died 2000 | Education Royal College of Music | |
Esther rofe 1904 2000 terra australis ballet 1946
Esther Rofe (1904 – February 2000) was an Australian musician and composer.
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Biography
Esther Rofe was born in Australia. She studied piano and violin with Alberto Zelman, Jr., Fritz Hart and A.E. Floyd and appeared with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at age 13. She entered the Royal College of Music in London and studied with Gordon Jacob, Ralph Vaughan Williams and R.O. Morris.
During World War II Rofe worked at the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), and the Colgate-Palmolive Radio Unit in Sydney where she began arranging and composing music. Rofe began composing for ballet in 1943. The Esther Rofe Songbook was published in Melbourne in December 1999.
Rofe and her sister Edith moved to Southport where Rofe lived and worked for twenty years by the sea. She never married, but fostered a child. She died in February 2000 and her ashes were scattered in Southport Bay. The Esther Rofe Award was established in her honor at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Honors and awards
Works
Rofe was known for ballet. Selected works include: