Elma Miller

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Elma Miller (born August 6, 1954) is a Canadian musician, composer, writer and educator. She was born in Toronto, Ontario. She earned a Bachelor and Master of Music from the University of Toronto in 1977, studying composition with Walter Buczynski, John Beckwith, Lothar Klein, John Weinzweig and Bogusław Schaeffer. She learned piano with Elaine Keillor (1975–1978) and studied electronic and computer music with Gustav Ciamaga, Bill Buxton, John Chowning and Leland Smith. She also studied aesthetics with Geoffrey Payzant and media with Marshall McLuhan.

In 1979 she moved to Hamilton, where she writes chamber music, orchestral works, electronic music and vocal music. From 1976 to 1978 she taught at the University of Toronto, teaching clarinet, theory, counterpoint, orchestration and 20th‑century analysis, and later worked as a lecturer and library technician there. She was artistic director of the contemporary chamber music series Music Here & Now.

Miller is of Estonian descent and often includes Estonian musical ideas in her work. She draws inspiration from astronomy, archaeology, Buddhist meditation and ecology. Her music has been performed by groups such as the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and pianist Elaine Keillor, and has been heard in Canada and other countries.

Awards and honors:
- 1980: Swedish Els Kaljot-Vaarman prize for chamber music
- 1981: Bronze Sir Ernest MacMillan Award from CAPAC for the orchestral piece Genesis
- 1997: Honourable mention in the R. Murray Schafer International competition for Music and Play for Butterfly Garden
- Awards from Estonian cultural groups in Canada, including an Estonian orchestral award in 1975