Robert Bauer was born in Welland, Ontario on January 24th, 1950 and began his musical studies at age seven. Throughout his youth he played guitar and saxophone in rock and dance bands, often arranging and composing for these ensembles. At the same time he was developing an interest in jazz and classical music and after high school he entered the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. There he studied composition with John Beckwith and John Weinzweig, materials of music with Oskar Morawetz, Godfrey Ridout, Lothar Klein, Derek Holman and Gustav Ciamaga, saxophone with Paul Brodie and guitar with Eli Kassner.