Wolfgang-Michael Bauer
Wolfgang-Michael Bauer is a composer of the Modern Third Stream. His music creates a fascinating synthesis of classical music and jazz in the spirit of Nikolai Kapustin and under the strong influence of the Chick Corea Elektric Band, enriched by the dynamic and groovy elements of fusion.
This combination of structural precision and classical elegance with the harmonic freedom, rhythmic vitality, and improvisational energy of jazz creates a distinctive, genre-crossing sound. Although all the works are fully notated, they possess such a vibrant, flowing, and seemingly spontaneous quality that they give the listener the impression of genuine improvisation. Through modern rhythms, complex harmonies, and energetic bass lines, the result is music that is intellectually demanding and, at the same time, emotionally captivating.
Bauer's work spans a wide spectrum – from intimate solo piano pieces and chamber music to powerful big band arrangements and large-scale orchestral compositions. A central highlight is his Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra, which premiered at the Baden Casino. Equally important is the work Le poème de la puissance, which in 2021 with the Burgenland University Prize It was awarded a prize. The jury, represented by Wolfram Wagner, praised it as "a very good composition in a contemporary style with an effective combination of electronics and orchestral sound".
His works are performed by renowned artists such as Alexander Rößler, Othmar Müller, Wolfgang Capek, Doris Adam, Julian Yo Hedenborg and Margit Fussi and are very well received.
Born in Baden near Vienna, Bauer initially studied sound engineering at SAE Vienna before turning to composition. He studied composition at the Joseph Haydn Private University of Music in Eisenstadt with Tibor Nemeth (ArtD.) and at the VŠMU Bratislava with Prof. Vladimír Bokes and Prof. Jevgenij Iršai. Since 2016, he has led a composition class at the Joseph Haydn Private University of Music in Eisenstadt. With great passion, he imparts to young composers the freedom and the tools to develop an independent musical language that authentically blends tradition and modernity.
His work has received numerous awards: in 2013 he was awarded the Theodor Kery Advancement Prize. In the same year, as well as in 2016, he was a guest on the renowned Ö1 radio program. Time-tone. A particular milestone in 2019 was the awarding of a composition commission by Mozart Society Vienna – as the first composer since its founding in 1913. This resulted in the Amadeus Variations.
He is a member of the Swiss Artists' Initiative another morning, within which several projects were realized. In 2015, his friend and colleague created Christian Bolt a bust of the composer, which has since been on display at the Bolt studio in Switzerland.
