Longer bio:
The descendent of Western frontier pioneer musicians, composer and oudist Ethan Wickman (b. 1973) grew up in a musical Southern California home where threads of melody knit together a sonic tapestry of hymns, folksongs, Beethoven and surf rock. Raised between the sublime vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and the immense northern expanse of the Sonoran Desert, the landscape beckoned the promise of possibility and the prospect of transcendence. Early training in piano, guitar, and voice led to university studies in composition (Brigham Young University, BM; Boston University, MM; University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, DMA), and then to studies of oud (Arabic and Turkish Lute) and musics of the Middle East and Türkiye with Ramy Adly, and Yurdal Tokcan in Istanbul.
With an expressive lyricism gleaned from his vocal studies, lush harmonies from Western polyphony, and the contemplative modal inflections of an oud improvisation, Wickman’s music invites listeners into his work as a space for reflection and catharsis. Woven together, these influences imbue his music with a searching spirituality and a yearning to communicate depth and compassion with immediacy and empathy. Two recent oratorios (To a Village Called Emmaus and That They Might Have Joy), draw on sacred texts to achieve this end. Another recent major work (Shimmers of Byzantium for chamber ensemble, voices, and organ) leans heavily into his training on the oud in a setting of W.B. Yeats’ epic mystical poem “Sailing to Byzantium.” His cantata Ballads of the Borderland juxtaposes family stories and mythologies within a texturally sweeping language that universalizes the experience of migration and assimilation.
Described as “a composer of facility and imagination, the kind to whom performers and audiences respond” (The New York Times), and for a music in which “the spiritual sublime is surprisingly close at hand” (WQXR-FM), Wickman’s compositions have been performed by soloists and ensembles in venues in the U.S. and around the world. He has received grants and commissions from the Barlow Endowment, Fulbright, Meet the Composer, the American Composers Forum, the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association, the Utah Arts Festival, the San Antonio Opera Guild, and Chicago's Music In The Loft. He was awarded the Jacob Druckman prize at the Aspen Music Festival, the Harvey Phillips Award from the International Tuba Euphonium Association, first place in the Utah Arts Festival Chamber Commission Competition, was a finalist for the ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Orchestral Composition Competition, and a semi-finalist for the American Prize.
Currently Professor of Music Composition and Theory at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he was formerly on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Indiana University-South Bend. An advocate for the music of other living composers, he served as Executive Director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University from 2015-2020.
Shorter bio:
Ethan Wickman (b. 1973), composer and oudist, traces his musical roots to Western frontier pioneers and a Southern California upbringing where hymns, folk songs, Beethoven, and surf rock shaped his early sound world. Raised between the vast Pacific and the Sonoran Desert, he developed a sense of openness and transcendence that informs his music today. Wickman studied piano, guitar, and voice before earning degrees in composition (BM, Brigham Young University; MM, Boston University; DMA, University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music). His later studies of the oud and Middle Eastern music with Ramy Adly and Yurdal Tokcan deepened his palette of modal colors and improvisatory nuance.
Wickman’s music blends expressive lyricism, lush Western harmonies, and contemplative modal inflections, creating spaces for reflection and catharsis. Recent works include the oratorios To a Village Called Emmaus and That They Might Have Joy, and Shimmers of Byzantium, inspired by W.B. Yeats’ mystical poem Sailing to Byzantium. His cantata Ballads of the Borderland explores migration and assimilation through sweeping textures and family narratives.
Praised by The New York Times as “a composer of facility and imagination” and by WQXR for music where “the spiritual sublime is surprisingly close at hand,” Wickman’s works have been performed internationally. Honors include the Jacob Druckman Prize (Aspen Music Festival) and commissions from the Barlow Endowment, American Composers Forum, and Utah Arts Festival. He is Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Texas at San Antonio and former Executive Director of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition.
Shortest bio:
Ethan Wickman (b. 1973) is a composer and oudist whose music fuses expressive lyricism, Western harmonic richness, and modal inflections drawn from Middle Eastern traditions. His works—praised by The New York Times for “facility and imagination”—include oratorios (To a Village Called Emmaus), the cantata Ballads of the Borderland, and Shimmers of Byzantium, inspired by W.B. Yeats. Wickman’s compositions have been performed internationally and commissioned by the Barlow Endowment, American Composers Forum, and Utah Arts Festival. Honors include the Jacob Druckman Prize at Aspen. He is Professor of Composition at the University of Texas at San Antonio and former Executive Director of the Barlow Endowment.