Esther Rofe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Esther Rofe was born in 1904 in Melbourne,[3] Australia.
Rofe studied piano with Harold C. Smith and Ada Freeman[3] and violin with Alberto Zelman, Jr.[3] Rofe studied composition with Fritz Hart and A.E. Floyd.[3]
At age 13, Rofe appeared with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She entered the Royal College of Music in London and studied with Gordon Jacob, Ralph Vaughan Williams and R.O. Morris.[4]
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.[5]
Rofe and her sister Edith moved to Southport where Rofe lived and worked for twenty years by the sea.
Rofe never married, but fostered a child, Carden James Rofe. Carden had two sons – Hamer Rofe and Malcolm Rofe.
Rofe died on 26 February 2000[3] and Hamer Rofe & his ex-wife Cathy Rofe, Malcolm Rofe and his wife Christina Rofe scattered her ashes in the Lune River in Southport Bay.[6]
The Esther Rofe Award was established in her honor at the University of Melbourne in Australia.[7][8]
Honors and awards
- 1993 Composer-of-Honour in the School of Music Conservatorium at Monash University.
- 1998 Australia Day Citizen of the Year award from the City of Boroondara
- 1998 Became a represented composer at the Australian Music Centre (AMC).
