Peter Bufano is a composer, musician, and educator with expertise in narrative media including circus arts, film, theater, broadcast, and streaming media. He is well known for his original scores for circuses, as well as his band, Cirkestra.

Bufano entered the circus arts as a young graduate of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College . He went on to tour with Ringling for four years, performing thousands of shows in front of millions of people.  Bufano began his career with Ringling as a clown; his first tour brought him throughout the entire continental U.S. before he even reached his twentieth birthday. Bufano then took a hiatus to study Film Scoring in Boston at Berklee College of Music; he later returned to Ringling in the position of keyboardist in the circus band. He toured for another two years, performing in such venues as Madison Square Garden in New York, TD Garden in Boston, The Staples Center in Los Angeles, X-Finity Center in Washington, D.C., and The United Center in Chicago.

Bufano's musical work in the circus continued to evolve as he began creating original music for shows. Starting in 2003 with his original score for The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Bufano's signature style became an industry staple.  He has continued to innovate evocative musical soundscapes for circus; most recently, Bufano has worked collaboratively with two other composers to score The Big Apple Circus' 2018-2019 touring show,   Bufano is an Assistant Professor of Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music and is the 2019 Newbury Comics Fellow for his work in circus music.