Frank Ticheli

Biography

Frank Ticheli ( tih-KEL-ee; born January 21, 1958) is an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and concert band works. Ticheli is a Professor Emeritus of Composition at the University of Southern California and was formerly the Pacific Symphony's composer-in-residence from 1991 to 1998, composing numerous works for that orchestra. A number of his works have become standards in concert band repertoire.

Early life and education

Frank Ticheli was born on January 21, 1958 in Monroe, Louisiana. He graduated from Lloyd V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas and earned a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Music Education from Southern Methodist University, where he studied with Donald Erb and Jack Waldenmaier. He went on to receive his master's and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, where he studied with William Albright, Leslie Bassett, George Wilson, and William Bolcom.

Career

Subsequently, Ticheli became an Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. There, he served on the board of directors of the Texas Composers Forum and was a member of the advisory committee for the San Antonio Symphony's "Music of the Americas" project. From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was composer-in-residence with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. Since 1991, he has been a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. In 2011, he endowed the "Frank Ticheli Guest Artist Fund" to support visiting composers and/or ensembles who specialize in the performance of new music.
Ticheli resides in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and grants

Ticheli has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Arts and Letters Award, Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, and Charles Ives Scholarship, all from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a two-time recipient of the National Band Association/Revelli Memorial Prize. He has also received the A. Austin Harding Award, the Distinguished Service to Music Medal, and First Prize in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, the Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and the Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music. In addition to these awards, Ticheli has been named a national honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Kappa Kappa Psi.
Grants and commissions for Ticheli's works have come from Chamber Music America, the American Music Center, Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale, Worldwide Concurrent Premieres, Inc., Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Symphony, City of San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin State University, University of Michigan, Trinity University, and the Indiana Bandmasters Association, and many others. His work, Angels in the Architecture, for concert band with soprano soloist, was commissioned by Kingsway International (now KI Concerts) and received its premiere performance in July 2008 by a massed band of young musicians from Australia and the U.S. at the Sydney Opera House.