BIOGRAPHY
Jim Bauer
Jim Bauer is an American composer, librettist, songwriter and performing musician. A classically-trained pianist and self-taught guitarist and singer who turned to rock music in his teens, he studied classical music composition and theory at Haverford College with composers and mentors Harold Boatrite and John Davison, and has since found the blend of "serious" and "popular" music he has been looking for in music tied to narrative: music for stage, film and television. He has written, arranged, orchestrated, produced, and performed music for all of the above while winning some awards and earning a few distinctions along the way. His award-winning musical play The Blue Flower was produced at the A.R.T. in the fall of 2010 and Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater in New York City in the fall of 2011 (enhancing producer in both cases, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin). In early 2012 he began a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) on a new one-person one-act musical titled Farhad or The Secret of Being that was presented by producer Paulette Haupt at Urban Stages in New York City in the fall of 2012. In honor of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the American Civil War, he is currently developing with his wife -- visual artist Ruth Bauer -- a new musical that looks back on those 19th century events from a 21st century perspective. Ruth and Jim are writing the script, Jim the music and lyrics. The project is being d eveloped under the auspices of Harvard University's American Repertory Theater. He is also working on EXO, an experimental project which will turn his six year old Dagmar song-cycle into a staged performance-art concert, Jim has been an Artist-in-Residence at HERE Arts Center in New York, and is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant.