He was encouraged to attend the Adventist college in Ekebyholm, a few miles from Stockholm to study theology. While there, he wrote an oratorio that was then performed widely in that country. Herbert Blomstedt, a violinist and later an internationally known conductor, and Herbert's brother, a cellist, played in the orchestra van Boer formed for the performance of this work.

Since van Boer at that time was a strict Sabbath keeper, there were no opportunities for employment. In 1947, an uncle in Sarasota, Florida, invited him to come to the U.S., where he became music teacher for a year at Forest Lake Academy in Florida, directing the band and choir and teaching piano. He also became deeply involved in music activity in nearby Orlando.

At the end of that year, he was invited to chair the music program at Madison College, a self-supporting school in Tennessee. In his time at MC, van Boer developed an outstanding music program. While there, he met Helen Bush, a pianist and a teacher in Nashville who had completed a bachelor's degree in English and biology and master's degrees in zoology and administration at Vanderbilt University. She went to him for assistance with a Beethoven sonata she was working on and offered to teach him English in return for his help. They married in 1949.

A graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Sweden, van Boer completed B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees at Vanderbilt University in musicology and music theory while at MC, studying with Roy Harris, a significant American composer.

The van Boers accepted positions at Pacific Union College in 1960, where he taught and directed the wind ensemble and concert band until 1964, and she taught in the biology and English departments. He held subsequent teaching positions at Napa Valley College, La Sierra College (now University), Sierra Nevada College, and Blue Ridge Community College in North Carolina, where he was chair of the humanities department.

While residing in California, he also conducted the Napa Valley and San Gabriel Valley symphonies, Sierra Philharmonic, and the Paradise Symphony Orchestra. More recently, he conducted the Hendersonville Symphony and Asheville Chamber Orchestra, both in North Carolina. He still conducts the ACO four times a year and continues to play flute as a member of a woodwind quintet.

Van Boer completed a doctorate in composition at the University of Southern California, where his major professor in composition was Halsey Stevens, prolific composer and noted authority on Hungarian composer Bela Bartok. Throughout his career van Boer has continued to compose music. He has written four symphonies, eight oratorios, six works for wind ensemble, solos for smaller instruments with accompaniment, and others. Helen, who completed doctorates in marine biology and in counseling, has written librettos for most of his oratorios.

After residing in the Tahoe, California, region for fifteen years, the van Boers retired to Asheville, North Carolina, where they now reside. One of their three sons, Bertil, Jr., has a Ph.D. in musicology and is pursuing a career in music.

ds/2008