Bio

A native of Rossland, B.C., Jean Ethridge (1943- ) began her formal study of music as a piano student of Helen Dahlstrom. After completing her ARCT diplomas in performing and teaching in 1962, she studied piano with Boris Roubakine and composition with Jean Coulthard at the University of British Columbia, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition in 1967.

In 1967-68 she studied composition with Bernard Stevens, and piano with Denis Matthews and Eric Harrison at the Royal College of Music, London, England. The summers of 1978 and 1979, she was a participant in the Composers' Workshop at the Banff Centre. From 1970 until 1992, she lived and worked in Victoria, B.C. In August, 2002 she was Composer-in-residence at Studea Musica, Orford Arts Centre, Québec.

Presently she is a resident of Salmon Arm, BC.Jean Ethridge has written for opera, chamber groups, orchestra, voice, and keyboard; her idiomatic and often brilliant music for piano has attracted particularly favorable critical attention. Her works have been performed in many countries, and have been broadcast by the C.B.C.She has written many compositions for students, including piano solos published by Alberta Keys and Waterloo. Frederick Harris has published her works in the Encore Series for violin and piano. Many of her works are listed in the syllabi of the Royal Conservatory, Conservatory Canada, and Contemporary Showcase.

In 2013 she completed an opera, "The Ballad of Isabel Gunn" which was workshopped in Kelowna, B.C. in May, 1996. The libretto is by Stephen Scobie, based on historical records and the book The Ballad  of Isabel Gunn by Stephen Scobie.