Bio

James Baur is part of a musical family: his father is a composer, his mother a flutist. Born in 1976, he was constantly exposed to a variety of musical styles.  After beginning his musical studies on the violin, he turned his attention to the guitar at the age of 12. Throughout high school in Memphis, Tennessee he studied with the prominent guitarist Lily Afshar.

In 1999 he received both his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Northwestern University, under the direction of Anne Waller. While at Northwestern, he was selected to perform in the masterclasses of Oscar Ghiglia, Pepe Romero, Manuel Barrueco, Paul O'Dette and Scott Tenant.   He will begin his studies in the Doctoral program in Guitar Performance at Northwestern University in September 2005.

He was awarded First Prize in Guitar in the 1998 Society of American Musicians Competition.   In 2000 he was selected to perform on both the Chicago Classical Guitar Society's Local Artist Showcase and The Friends of the Windows Second Saturday Concert Series, on which he was invited to perform again in 2001.  

In February 2001 he premiered his father John Baur's Etudes for Guitar and Songs of Love for Soprano and Guitar at the Imagine Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, and has performed with Ensemble Noamnesia and Northwestern University's Contemporary Music Ensemble in Chicago.   In 2003 he gave World Premiere performances for Chicago composers Bjorn Berkhout and Robert McDonald, and played the electric guitar in Virgil Moorefield's Premiere performance of his ensemble work Things You Must do to Get into Heaven in November 2003.   In March 2004 he performed fa/sil by Bjorn Berkhout at the New Music Festival at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.   And most recently he performed a solo guitar concert on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in April 2005.

Recent concert programs include "A History of the Guitar: The Twentieth Century," a series of concerts chronologically exploring significant works from the guitar's repertoire; and an on-going concert project dedicated to the performance of new and previously unheard pieces by Chicago composers.   He is also a member of The Avanti Duo, a flute and guitar duo with flutist Kim Sopata, and the MAVerick Ensemble, directed by Chicago composer and cellist William Jason Raynovich.   Current projects include two CDs: Made of String, an eclectic blend of styles and composers; and another of works by Chicago-area composers, including Bjorn Berkhout, Alan Cole, Noah Lubin, and Paul Failla.

Also active as a teacher, he is on the faculty of Lake Forest College, The Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians, and The Lake Forest Symphony Music School.