Anita (A.D.) Perry has called British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley home since 1997, but her love of music began much earlier. As a child, she was endlessly fascinated by sound itself, spending hours listening to her grandfather’s collection of 78 rpm records and absorbing the colours, textures, and stories they carried. The day an electric organ arrived at her family home proved to be a turning point: she began composingtunes and pieces

immediately, setting in motion alifelong creative path.

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Her first formal introduction to music came through

piano lessons, eventually leading her to the Univer-

sity of British Columbia, where she graduated cum

laude with a Bachelor of Music degree.

 

Today, Perry is a member of the Canadian Music

Centre and the Canadian League of Composers,

and her catalogue includes works for orchestra, concert band, piano, voice, and choir, as well as seven children’s musicals and five ballets. She draws inspiration from moods, stories, and the people around her, and has written a number of musical portraits for friends and colleagues.

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Perry’s contributions to the arts have been recognized with the Summerland Arts Appreciation Award (2011) and the CFMTA Call for Compositions in 2015, 2017, and 2019. A Registered Music Teacher since 1984, she has also devoted many years to leadership and service within the music teaching community at both the provincial and local levels.

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She currently teaches piano, composition, and theory rudiments in Summerland, British Columbia, where she continues to nurture curiosity, creativity, and a love of sound in students of all ages.