Anne Lauber was born in Switzerland. She began her studies at the Conservatoire national de Lausanne where she studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Andras Kovach and composition with Jean Perrin. She also took private lessons with the French composer Darius Milhaud. She moved to Montréal in 1967 and received her Canadian citizenship in 1972. Her training continued with private lessons with André Prévost (1974-78), and then at the Faculty of Music of the University of Montréal where she received her doctorate in music (composition option) in 1986.