BIOGRAPHY

Jason Brauer (b. 2001) is a composer and pianist concerned mainly with vast, beautiful worlds, gremlin-like critters, and the nature of human suffering and hope. His opera La muñeca menor, a magical-realist fairy tale based on the short story by Rosario Ferré that involves vicious prawns and living dolls, was named a finalist for the American Prize Thomas Pustché Award in Opera/Musical Theatre/Film/Dance, college division. His second opera, The Infinite Lives of Frog and Scorpion, based on the story by sadoeuphemist, throws the frog and scorpion of fable into a time-looping, Sisyphean purgatory.

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Other recent projects include Cloud Atlas Overture, a sweeping epic in 5 minutes inspired by David Mitchell's novel, which won the NYU Orchestra call for scores; Mephisto at the Carnival, a chaotic piece for marimba-bass clarinet duo Transient Canvas; and Menagerie of Insect Societies, a string quartet written for The Rhythm Method. His musical style balances the beautiful with the grotesque and the philosophical with simple joys, with influences including Ravelian impressionism, turn-of-the-century modernism, Argentine tango, and indie rock.

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Jason completed his Bachelor's degree at Vanderbilt University, studying composition with Michael Alec Rose, Stan Link, Michael Slayton, and Molly Herron, and piano with Jama Reagan. He is currently pursuing his master's degree at NYU, where he studies with Justin Dello Joio, Ezequiel Viñao, and Julia Wolfe.

 

He has scored two short films for auteur Alex Mills, La Petite Mort and the LA Film Festival Indie Short Fest selection Sardines, and was awarded second place at the 2020 Screen Music Program. At Interlochen Center for the Arts, his piece The Mollies' Mark was selected for recording by the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and his string quartet “Tango de Manchachicoj” placed second at the national level in the Music Teachers National Association composition contest.