Elinor Armer was born in Oakland, grew up in Davis, and went to Mills College and San Francisco State University, studying composition with Darius Milhaud, Leon Kirchner, and Roger Nixon, and piano with Alexander Libermann. In 1985 she established the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and served as chair for eleven years. Armer has performed and lectured throughout the country, and her works are performed regularly in the United States and abroad.