Bruce Mather, a Canadian composer and pianist, was born in Toronto in 1939. He has lived in Montreal since 1966 and is regarded as one of the most important Canadian composers of his generation.

Bruce Mather first studied piano with Alberto Guerrero and composition with Oskar Morawetz, Geoffrey Ridout, and John Weinzweig. He continued his studies in France, where he studied composition with Darius Milhaud and musical analysis with Olivier Messiaen. He later completed a master’s degree in composition at Stanford University under Leland Smith and earned a doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1967.

He served as a professor of composition, musical analysis, and harmony at McGill University from 1967 to 2004. His music is performed regularly throughout Canada, as well as in the United States and Europe, among other regions. Mather has received commissions from numerous prominent orchestras, ensembles, and soloists, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), the Rouen Chamber Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, CBC/Radio-Canada, Radio France, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, New Music Concerts, and the Ensemble 2e2m.

He is the recipient of the Lynch‑Staunton Award, the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, and the Serge Garant Prize awarded by the Émile Nelligan Foundation.

Among his works featuring clarinet are a Quintet for clarinet and string quartet, premiered by clarinetist Jean‑Guy Boisvert and the Penderecki String Quartet, as well as Six Moments Musicaux for solo clarinet, published by Les Éditions Doberman‑Yppan (DO 1218, DO 1222, and DO 1213).