Michael Bauer

D.M.A. University of Cincinnati Collage - Conservatory of Music; M.M. University of Alabama; B.M. University of Alabama

Michael Bauer is a Professor of Organ and Church Music at the University of Kansas. In 2020 Bauer won the Ned Fleming Excellence in Teaching Award presented to one faculty member at KU each year. Since arriving at the University of Kansas in 1987 he has developed a new doctoral program in church music. In 2002 he led an effort that resulted in the creation of a non-profit organization entitled Imago Dei: Friends of Christianity and the Arts which was centered in Kansas City. Bauer has served as an organ consultant for many churches in the Midwest. In recent years he has directed seven University of Kansas European Organ Study Tours. He has played or lectured at four regional and three national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

Bauer received his early training in organ while studying for four years at the Eastman School of Music in high school. His bachelors and masters (organ and choral conducting) degrees were obtained at the University of Alabama, while his doctorate (organ and choral conducting) is from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. Following his doctoral work, Bauer spent two years in Geneva, Switzerland, where he earned the Certificat de Perfectionnement from the Conservatoire de Musique, and a subsequent year in seminary studying church history and theology at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. His organ teachers have been Sue Seid-Martin, Patricia Fitzsimmons, Warren Hutton, Roberta Gary, and Lionel Rogg. His principal conducting teachers have been Frederick Prentice and Elmer Thomas.

In addition, Bauer has held eleven different church positions, including serving as Director of Music at the American Church in Geneva, Switzerland and at Central Congregational Church in Dallas. He currently serves as Organist/Choirmaster at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Omaha, NE.

Bauer has recorded CD’s of the complete organ works of Brahms, works for the small organ, organ works of Petr Eben with his wife Marie Rubis Bauer on the Calcante label, and French Baroque music with the Oread Baroque Ensemble at KU. Bauer and his wife have served together as contributing authors to the book Leading the Congregation’s Song, published by Augsburg. In addition, Bauer has written a chapter for the book A Tribute to Petr Eben, published by the British Dvorak Society. He has published in a number of journals, including CrossAccent, L’Orgue, The Diapason, and Reformed Worship. In 2013, his book Arts Ministry: Nurturing the Creative Life of God's People was published by Eerdmans Publishing Co. His current project is a book entitled Playing to the Learn – Learning to Play: The Art of Practicing the Organ which he is writing along with six co-authors. He is in demand as a recitalist, having performed in Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain and throughout America. He has judged many competitions in America as well as the Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Russia and the Ciurlionis International Organ Competition in Lithuania.