Craig Bohmler (born April 7, 1956)Hansen, Niels-Henning.
"En tilgang til den klassiske Musik"
NielsHenning.dk. p. 145. Retrieved August 12, 2019. is an American composer who specializes in opera and musical theater. His musicals include ''Gunmetal Blues'' (1991), which has had well over 100 professional productions; '' Enter the Guardsman'' (1997), which won the international Musical of the Year award and received an Olivier Award nomination; and ''Mountain Days'' (2000), celebrating the life of John Muir. His operas include ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' (2017), an adaptation of

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...

's book of the same title which was broadcast nationwide in November 2017 and internationally in 2018. Bohmler has also composed numerous song cycles and other works for solo voice, choral works, and instrumental music pieces, and he is also a musical-theater director, vocal coach, and pianist.

Early life and education

Bohmler was born in Houston in 1956.Benbrook, Gil
"A Conversation with Craig Bohmler, composer of ''Gunmetal Blues'', playing now at A/C Theatre Company"
''PHX Stages''. May 18, 2018. He started piano lessons at the age of six, and began composing music as a teenager. He graduated from Dickinson High School in Dickinson, Texas in 1974.Christian, Caro
"Dickinson native wins composing competition"
'' Galveston Daily News''. September 30, 1996. pp. 1-A, 11-A. He attended the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal Schoo ...

College of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

, graduating in 1978 with a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of presc ...

degree. In 1980 he received a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, where he studied piano and composition with

Carlisle Floyd Carlisle Sessions Floyd (June 11, 1926September 30, 2021) was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post- ...

, who became his composition mentor.Holliday, Thomas
''Falling Up: The Days and Nights of Carlisle Floyd, The Authorized Biography''
Syracuse University Press, 2013. pp. 303–304.

Career

1981 to 1999

From 1981 through 1984, Bohmler was both a pianist and, beginning as an apprentice, vocal coach at the

Houston Opera Studio Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

of the Houston Grand Opera."Meet Craig Bohmler"
''VoyagePhoenix''. May 22, 2018. Afterwards, he was invited to the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada as a composer-in-residence, and then became musical director for the winter program there for the following three years. His first opera, ''The Harlot and the Monk'', was staged at Banff in February 1985;Griffel, Margaret Ross
''Operas in English: A Dictionary''
Scarecrow Press, 2012. p. 214. it is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by James Howley, based on an 8th-century Indian play. In his last term at Banff he met musical-theater actress and lyricist Marion Adler, and turned his sights to musical theater composition, collaborating with her on his first musical, ''Gunmetal Blues'', a spoof of 1940s private-eye flicks with a book by

Scott Wentworth Scott Wentworth (born 1955) is an American actor and director who immigrated to Canada in 1986. Early life Wentworth was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1955. Career After starting his career in New York City, he began a long association wit ...

. Via a phone call by Carlisle Floyd, the musical was workshopped in 1989 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. It premiered at the

Phoenix Little Theatre The Phoenix Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Phoenix, Arizona. Started in 1920 by a theatre troupe known as the Phoenix Players, the theatre is among the oldest continually operating theaters west of the Mississipp ...

in 1991 and subsequently had over 100 professional productions in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan, including an

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

production by the Amas Musical Theatre at Theater Off Park in April–May 1992, and a 2014 production at Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch in London. Houston Grand Opera's Houston Opera Studio commissioned Bohmler's second opera, an "outreach" opera for youthful singers.LaFave, Kenneth
"Composer's marriage unconventional: Rap, opera"
''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $ ...

''. December 4, 1998. p. D5."Craig Bohmler , Composer"
''RidersOpera.com''. Retrieved August 12, 2019. The result was ''The Achilles Heel'', a one-act opera with a libretto by Mary Carol Warwick, in which three high-school students – a blind boy, a black boy, and a beautiful girl – learn lessons about tolerance and perceived limitations.Griffel, Margaret Ross
''Operas in English: A Dictionary''
Scarecrow Press, 2012. p. 3. The score combines elements of classical, musical-theater, jazz, and rap music.Christian, Carol
"Composer has impressive list of credits"
'' Galveston Daily News''. September 30, 1996. p. 11-A. The work was premiered by Houston Opera Studio in February 1993 at the Heinen Theater of the Houston Community College. It won first prize in the National Opera Association's biennial Chamber Opera Competition in 1995.McVicker, Mary F
''Women Opera Composers: Biographies from the 1500s to the 21st Century''
McFarland, 2016. p. 203.MacClelland, Scott
"The Singing 'Nutcracker'"
'' Metro Silicon Valley''. November 11–17, 1999."Craig Bohmler"
Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Retrieved August 12, 2019. Bohmler's next production was a musical, '' Enter the Guardsman'', another collaboration with lyricist Marion Adler and book writer Scott Wentworth. It is based on Ferenc Molnár's 1910 Hungarian farce ''The Guardsman'', about a man who disguises himself as a dashing guardsman to seduce his own wife, an English-language production of which Carlisle Floyd had had a supporting role in Florida in 1949. Prior to being fully produced, ''Enter the Guardsman'' won the first-ever international Musical of the Year competition in Aarhus, Denmark in 1996.Rampton, James
"Let's do the show in Aarhus"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''. September 26, 1996. Concert Cast"">"Musical of the Year: 1996 > Concert Cast"
''CastAlbums.org''. September 21, 1996.Sommer, Elyse

''CurtainUp.com''. May 2000. It then premiered in 1997 at the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

's Donmar Warehouse in London, in a sponsorship between the Donmar and the Really Useful Group,Viagas, Robert
"Donmar Joins Webber in Producing ''Enter the Guardsman''"
''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's ...

''. December 17, 1996.Wolf, Matt
''Sam Mendes at the Donmar: Stepping Into Freedom''
Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003. pp. 54–55. and in 1998 was nominated for the

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best New Musical."Olivier Winners 1998"
Olivier Awards. Retrieved August 12, 2019. Subsequent productions included a limited engagement Off-Broadway at the Vineyard/Dimson Theater, May–June 2000. Opera San Jose commissioned Bohmler's next opera, ''The Tale of the Nutcracker'', an operatic re-working of

E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...

's "

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (german: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeati ...

", with a libretto by Daniel Helfgot.Vaughn, Michael J
"Dark Dreams"
'' Metro Silicon Valley''. November 18–24, 1999. The company premiered it in November–December 1999 at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose.

2000 to present

Bohmler's musical ''Mountain Days'', about the life of naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...

, was commissioned by the Concord Pavilion and Willows Theatre in

Concord, California Concord ( ) is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California. According to an estimate completed by the United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 129,295 in 2019 making it the eighth largest city in the San Francisco Ba ...

, with book and lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips.Kilduff, Paul
"One mountain of a musical opens in Martinez / John Muir tale plays in new amphitheater"
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

''. July 13, 2001."John Muir Musical Scheduled For An Extended Run!!"
''The John Muir Newsletter'', Spring 2002. Vol. 12, No. 2. p. 2. It premiered in October 2000 at the outdoor 15,000-seat Concord Pavilion, with a cast of 80 performers, 28 symphony musicians, and a 50-person chorus."''Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical''"

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, w ...

. November 28, 2018 A cast recording was also produced. Afterwards, the Willows Theatre Company constructed an outdoor waterfront amphitheater in Muir's adult hometown

Martinez, California Martinez ( Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait, the city's popu ...

to house the musical as an annual event. For Shakespeare Santa Cruz's annual Winter Holiday season, Bohmler composed the music for playwright and lyricist Kate Hawley's ''Gretel and Hansel'', a musical comedy written in the style of a British pantomime. The music for the lively piece features styles ranging from ragtime to hip-hop, musical-theatre, and Kurt Weill. It premiered in November–December 2001, at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

. ''The Quiltmaker's Gift'' is a family holiday musical commissioned by the Phoenix Theatre in Arizona, based on the children's book of the same title by Jeff Brumbeau, which tells the story of a greedy king and a quiltmaker who teaches him the joy of generosity. Bohmler composed the music, lyrics are by Steven Mark Kohn, and the adapted stage book is by Alan J. Prewitt. The Phoenix Theatre premiered the piece in November 2002. Bohmler and Kohn wrote another children's musical for Phoenix Theatre, ''Unstoppable Me!'', based on a 2006 book of the same title by Wayne Dyer, adapted for the stage by Michael Barnard and Vincent VanVleet; the piece premiered in 2011.Lengel, Kerry
"5/8-12: ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' with Arizona Opera"
''

''. May 5, 2013. For American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Bohmler re-teamed with lyricist Marion Adler for ''How to Create a Musical'', with a book by Marc Jacobs. The full-length musical is a high-school-based farce which satirically shows the audience how musicals can transform everyday events into magical moments. It was presented at various Santa Clara County schools and libraries in early 2005. The San Jose Repertory Theatre commissioned a locally based musical from Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips for its 25th anniversary season.Messina, Marianne
"Of Ghosts And Guns"
'' Metro Silicon Valley''. September 7–13, 2005. This resulted in ''The Haunting of Winchester'', about rifle heiress Sarah Winchester and her Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. The musical premiered in September–October 2005. Willows Theatre Company in northern California commissioned another musical from Bohmler and Mary Bracken Phillips to perform at the theater company's annual John Muir festival it had initiated with ''Mountain Days''. The result was ''Sacagawea'', the story of the Shoshone Indian guide Sacagawea, who was instrumental on the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

.Craig, Pat
"Willows Theatre presents ''Sacagawea'', another theatrical chapter in Western history"
'' East Bay Times''. August 3, 2008. It was premiered by Willows Theatre at the Alhambra Performing Arts Center in Martinez, California in the summer of 2008. Bohmler re-teamed with Marion Adler (lyrics) and Marc Jacobs (book) for ''All the More to Love'', commissioned by the Laguna Playhouse. The musical concerns the eponymous former real-life consignment store for plus-size women's clothing in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

and its patrons – plus-sized women and some cross-dressing men.Eslinger, Bonnie
"''All the More to Love'' about Alameda store"
'' East Bay Times''. May 13, 2010. It premiered at the Phoenix Theatre in Arizona in April 2010. After an accidental visit to the Zane Grey Cabin and Museum in Payson, Arizona in 2010, Bohmler read

's novel ''

Riders of the Purple Sage ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been call ...

'', and conceived the idea of adapting it into an opera.Lengel, Kerry
"''Riders of the Purple Sage'' is Arizona Opera's first-ever world premiere"
''

''. February 20, 2017. He convinced his musical lyricist Steven Mark Kohn to write the libretto, and garnered a close collaboration with, and a commission from,

Arizona Opera Arizona Opera is an opera company which operates in both Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. History Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first produc ...

. ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' had its world premiere by Arizona Opera, in February 2017 in Tucson and March 2017 in Phoenix. It was also broadcast nationwide on November 25, 2017 on the WFMT Radio Network's American Opera Series, and broadcast internationally in 2018 via distribution to the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

Awards

*First Prize, National Opera Association's Chamber Opera Competition (1995, for ''The Achilles Heel'') *Musical of the Year, International Musical Contest, Aarhus, Denmark (1996, for '' Enter the Guardsman'') *Nomination,

for Best New Musical (1998, for '' Enter the Guardsman'') *Arizona Governor's Arts Awards – Artist Award (2019)

Personal life

Bohmler has been based in the

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

area since 1988. In 2015 he married actor/singer/director Rusty Ferracane, whom he has been with since 1995.Reines, Seth
"''Riders of the Purple Sage''"
''Echo''. October 20, 2017.

Stage works

Operas

*''The Harlot and the Monk'' (1985) *''The Achilles Heel'' (1993) *''The Tale of the Nutcracker'' (1999) *''Riders of the Purple Sage'' (2017)

Musicals

*''Gunmetal Blues'' (1991) *'' Enter the Guardsman'' (1997) *''Mountain Days'' (2000) *''Gretel and Hansel'' (2001) *''The Quiltmaker's Gift'' (2002) *''How to Make a Musical'' (2005) *''The Haunting of Winchester'' (2005) *''Sacagawea'' (2008) *''All the More to Love'' (2010) *''Unstoppable Me!'' (2011)

References

External links

Official siteProfile
at

*Craig Bohmler's three-part Master Classes for singers
Art SongsOpera and OratorioMusical-Theater Auditions
(2016, Valley of the Sun Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bohmler, Craig University of North Texas College of Music alumni University of Houston alumni American male classical composers American classical composers American opera composers Male opera composers American musical theatre composers American vocal coaches Musicians from Houston Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona 1956 births Living people Classical musicians from Arizona