Michael D. Hicks

Born in San Jose, California, Michael Hicks (1956- ) graduated from BYU in Music Composition in 1980. He later received a DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984 and has been teaching at BYU since 1985. His chamber and solo works have been performed and recorded by BYU faculty and student artists and by other performers around the country (including the Black Swamp Saxophone Quartet, the Menlo Brass Quintet, and the Memphis Symphony Brass Quintet) and at events of the American Society of University Composers, Cincinnati Composers Guild, and the Subtropics Music Festival. His music can be heard on the Tantara CDs Ritual Grounds (2003), Late Conversations (1996), and Found Horizon (1993). His work as a singer-songwriter appears on the Tantara CD Valentine St. (2006)

Hicks is the author of three books: Mormonism and Music: A History (1989), Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic, and Other Satisfactions (1999), and Henry Cowell, Bohemian (2002), all published by University of Illinois Press, which will also publish his book co-authored with Christian Asplund entitled Christian Wolff. He has also authored historical and analytical articles that have appeared in many books and journals (including American Music, Journal of Aesthetic Education, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Musical Quarterly, and Perspectives of New Music). He has been a guest lecturer at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley and has read papers at various conferences (including UCLA's multidisciplinary Conference on American Studies Connecting with Religion, 1991) and national meetings of the Society for American Music and the American Musicological Society. His Mormon-related articles and poetry have appeared in several books (including Macmillan's Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1995) and in the journals Dialogue, Sunstone, BYU Studies, Journal of Mormon History, Literature and Belief, and Utah Historical Quarterly. In August 2006 he was appointed editor of the journal American Music.

His awards include the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award (1994, 2003 and 2010), the Frances and Emily Chipman Award (Mormon History Association, 1989), and the Morris S. Rosenblatt Award (Utah Historical Society, 1991). He and his wife Pamela are the parents of four children.

News Links

• The Daily Universe - An evening of new music at de Jong Concert Hall (21 July 2011)
• The Daily Herald - BYU prof. explores music of his past for Bible’s anniversary (6 Jan 2011)
• The Deseret News - Choir's men lift voices: All-male album is unique in Mormon Tabernacle Choir's storied history (2 Jan 2011)
• Daily Herald - Campus Notes (13 December 2010)
• BYU News - BYU musician hits crescendo for third time with top award (7 Dec 2010)
• BYU Magazine - Encyclopedia of Musical Alumni (28 December 2007)

References

• Michael Hicks Bio