Claude Vivier was born on April 14, 1948 in Montreal.  He never knew his natural parents and was adopted by the Vivier family when he was two and a half years old.  As a child Vivier sung mass in a school choir and became interested in both music and religion.  At the age of sixteen he entered the seminary to study for a religious career.  However, he was expelled two years later for his immaturity and child-like behavior.

In 1967 he began his studies at the Conservatoire du Montreal (Montreal Conservatory of Music) where he studied piano with Irving Heller and composition with Gilles Trembley.  In 1968 he received a Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Award to study piano with Karl Engel.  By 1968 Claude Vivier had his first works publically performed, included was a String Quartet and Ojikawa.  In 1971 Vivier received a Canada Council grant to study music in Europe.  This enabled him to study electroacoustic composition at the Institut de Sonologie (Institute for Sound Research) with Gottfried Micheal Koenig and composition with Paul Mefano in Paris during 1971 and 1972.  Then he moved to Cologne, Germany and began studying composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen (apparently Stockhausen had refused to take Vivier as a student the previous year because he lacked experience), analysis with Richard Toop and electronic music with Hans Ulrich Humpert.  During the summers of 1970, 1972, and 1974 Vivier lived in Darmstadt, Germany.  While in Europe Vivier experienced relative success, having his works performed in Cologne, Paris and Darmstadt.

In 1974 he returned to Montreal where he was given a hearty welcome.  However, his welcome was short lived and the reality of the Canadian music scene quickly found Claude Vivier.  There was no work and few opportunities came his way.  He was forced to live in a small one-room “apartment” with little or no money.  He no longer had the musical facilities (like a piano) that he was accustomed to in Europe.  He ended up with a part-time position as a “teacher” (more like a demonstrator) in a Montreal organ store where he made forty dollars a week.  During this time his composition “Lettura di Dante” was being recorded, but the thought of receiving money from the recording was not to be fulfilled.  He received a total of one-hundred dollars for the recording.  1974 was a very hard year for Vivier and he slipped into a state of despondency.  Gradually things began to improve as he started to receive commissions and become more involved in the Canadian music scene.

The years following 1975  he received commissions from SMCQ, the Festival Singers, National Youth Orchestra, NMC, faculty of Music of the University of Montreal, CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, CBC, MSO, and the Canadian Music Competitions.  In 1977-78 he composed two ballets for Le Group de la Place Royale.  Claude Vivier was the representative on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Music Centre.  He was also one of the founders (along with John Rea and Jose Evangelista) of Evenements du Neuf - a group who presented concerts of contemporary music to the Montreal public.  He taught musical improvisation and language at Montmorency CEGEP in Montreal.  He also taught at the University of Ottawa.  During the summer of 1976 he became the composer-in-residence for the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) of Canada.

In 1977 he undertook a trip to Japan and Bali.  While on his way to Indonesia he passed through the Middle East, Iran, and India studying the music of each country as he traveled.  This trip had a great influence on Vivier’s music and was a period of self-discovery.  It was during this trip that Vivier’s interest in eastern philosophies and religions emerged.  In 1981 Vivier was named composer of the year by the Canadian Music Council.  He returned to Paris on another Canada Council grant in 1982.  While living there he died tragically young, just three weeks before his 35th birthday.  Vivier devoted the latter part of his life to composition, making the last five years of his life the most productive, leaving behind forty-nine compositions.