Glenn Buhr

Glenn Arthur Buhr

Glenn Arthur Buhr, composer (b at Winnipeg 18 Dec 1954). After graduating in music from the University of Manitoba (1979), the University of British Columbia (1981) and the University of Michigan (1984), Buhr began to teach at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1984. He has also served as the WINNIPEG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's first composer-in-residence, which has resulted in several new works, the inauguration of a highly successful annual contemporary music festival and composers' competition, and the release by the orchestra of a CD of 4 of Buhr's works in 1992. Often programmatic in content, Buhr's music is influenced by a wide range of musical styles, from jazz to the classical music of India.

As of 1999 Glenn Buhr continued as professor of music composition at Wilfrid Laurier University. That year marked the release of 2 compact discs of his music: Learning to Fall on the Marquis Classics label, which features the Penderecki String Quartet and the University of Manitoba Singers; and Winter Poems for CBC Records with orchestral works commissioned and performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

In 1999 the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir gave the first performance of Buhr's 30-minute Gloria for chorus and orchestra, and Stephen Sitarski premiered his Violin Concerto with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Buhr wrote a Cello Concerto for Paul Marleyn for the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra's 1999/2000 season and is writing a musical comedy with his partner Margaret Sweatman entitled Flux for 2001/2002, commissioned by Soundstreams Canada.