Career
After majoring in music theory and composition at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, in the 1980s Bimstein led the new wave band Philosophy "n" the Blanks, whose three albums and six videos were featured on college radio and Music Television. After further studies at University of California, Los Angeles in composition, orchestration, and conducting, he moved to southern Utah. Bimstein has served two terms as Mayor of Springdale, Utah, where he currently resides. As Mayor, he was an outspoken advocate for protection of the environment and he has testified twice before Congress in support of Utah"s wilderness.
Bimstein has served as chair of the Utah Humanities Council, chair of the art and humanities residency center The Mining Enforcement And Safety Administration, vice-president of the American Music Center in New York, and is profiled in Who"s Who in America.
He is a frequent guest speaker on creativity, community, and collaboration. He has been described by Outside Magazine as "America"s only all-natural politician-composer." In a 1997 feature article PARADE magazine called Bimstein, "The Manitoba Who Brought Civility Back to Town."
His music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Bang on a Can Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and London’s Royal Opera House.
His Garland Hirschi’s Cows Civil Defense was released by Starkland in 1996. lieutenant received favorable reviews in such publications as Stereo Review, Wired, Fanfare, and Stereophile.
In 1997 Bimstein was awarded Meet The Composer"s largest grant, the three-year New Residencies, during which he composed music that explores the intimate relationship between the landscapes of the desert southwest and the many cultures that have inhabited the area.
Ensembles who have performed Bimstein"s works include Relâche, Turtle Island String Quartet, Modern Mandolin Quartet, Present music, Abramyan String Quartet, Sierra Winds, Equinox Chamber Players, The California EAR Unit, and Corky Siegel"s Chamber Blues. In 2000, Bimstein received a Continental Harmony grant from the American Composers Forum, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the White House Millennium Council to write The Bushy Wushy Rag, a work celebrating baseball and the city of Saint Louis. lieutenant was featured in a nationally broadcast Public Broadcasting Service special in October 2001.
Bimstein also performs and writes for the chamber folk quartet blue haiku.
The all-Bimstein Civil Defense Larkin Gifford"s Harmonica was released by Starkland in 2006. In The New York Times review of the Civil Defense, Steve Smith wrote of "the irresistible charm of Mr.
Bimstein"s music" and "his uncanny knack for finding the music of everyday life.".
