The Curtain: Composer


Paul Snider graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Joint Honours in Music and Computer Science, while acting in theatre groups and composing original music. He has acted in many musicals and plays including Man of La Mancha, Camelot, Butterflies are Free, Rebecca, The Lion in Winter and The Boys Next Door, for which he won a Thea Award. Paul has composed and produced music from radio jingles to contemporary popular songs to orchestral arrangements, most notably the finale for The Concert for Spina Bifida, a part of the 'Canada 125' celebration, written for cast and orchestra. His original music for The Boys Next Door received a Thea Award nomination for Best Original Music. Paul also appeared as a performer in the Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Paul moved to Vancouver in 1997 to build a software company with his partners, while continuing to pursue acting and music composition. The company grew to be one of the fastest growing technology companies in BC and Paul received BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER’s Top 40 Under 40 Award in 2001. The company went on to win BCTIA’s Company of the Year as well as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year for the Pacific Region.

Paul founded Born To Fly Productions Inc. in 2005 and through this company has written a musical called The Curtain of which he produced a full cast CD. The musical is a love story between an East Berlin woman and a Canadian man during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Also for Born To Fly, Paul wrote, directed, acted in and scored a family feature film called Everywhere But Here, a comedy adventure about a man who doesn't like kids, who becomes stranded on an island with two children. The film toured the USA in the KidsFirst! Film Festival and premiered in the Indie Can Film Festival in Toronto. More information about this film is at  www.everywherebuthere.yolasite.com

Though Paul divided his time over the past 20 years between business, music composition and acting, he now spends all of his time with his company Born To Fly Productions Inc. with the goal of seeing his musical The Curtain mounted on stage. This musical represents the culmination of the music, acting and writing disciplines Paul has enjoyed throughout his career. His inspiration for The Curtain came from his visits to East Germany in 1986 and 1989 before the Iron Curtain came down, and then again in 1991, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Paul at The Berlin Wall, 1991

Paul at the Berlin Wall, 1991