Annette Bauer

Annette Bauer is a recorder player and multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised in Germany, she holds a diploma in medieval and Renaissance music from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland (2001), and an MA in music from the University of California in Santa Cruz (2004).

From 2001-2012 she called the San Francisco Bay area her home. There, she studied North Indian classical music on sarode, a 24-stringed lute, with her teacher Ali Akbar Khan, and performed and recorded with early music groups all over the United States, including Piffaro, Texas Early Music Project, Magnificat, medieval ensemble Cançonièr, Baroque ensemble Les Graces, and Farallon Recorder Quartet, as well as her own modal crossover project The Lost Mode. From 2012-2020, she spent eight years touring the world as a musician for the Cirque du Soleil show TOTEM.

Since 2020, Annette is now making a new home with her partner and young daughter in Montréal. She is currently sharing her love of music by offering in-person and online instruction in her private studio, teaching an online series on 14th-16th-century notation through Amherst Early Music, an online series on medieval music “Medieval Mondays” through NAVRS, as well as working as an ensemble coach with the Montreal Recorder Society. In 2023, Annette became the new director for the summer recorder workshop of the San Francisco Early Music Society. Since 2024, she also serves as the music director for NAVRS, the North American Virtual Recorder Society.

Her current work as a performer include a new duo project exploring East-West connections of the historical silk road, collaborating with medieval women’s ensemble Scholastica and with dance choreographer Sarah dell’Ava, as well as developing new programs with The Lost Mode.