Michael Hicks

Author, composer, and performer Michael Hicks received a DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984 and was a Professor of Music at Brigham Young University from 1985 through 2020. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Mormon Letters in 2023.

He has authored ten books: 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤: 𝘈 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 (1989, winner for Best First Book, Mormon History Association), 𝘚𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬: 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 (1999), 𝘏𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘉𝘰𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘯 (2002), and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘳: 𝘈 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 (2015, Honorable Mention for Biography, Mormon History Association; Finalist in Non-Fiction for Utah Book Award)—all published by University of Illinois Press—𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵-𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 (Createspace, 2012), 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧𝘧 (co-authored with Christian Asplund, University of Illinois, 2012), 𝘋𝘰 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵?: 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘰𝘮 (Createspace, 2017), 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭'𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘌𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 (Signature Books 2020), 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯: 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯' 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '60𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 '70𝘴 (Signature Books, 2022, winner for Best Memoir, Mormon History Association), and 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘴 (By Common Consent Press, forthcoming).

His dozens of historical and analytical articles have appeared in books such as the 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 and the 𝘖𝘹𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 as well as journals that include 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺, and 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤. He has been an invited guest lecturer at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley and has read papers at various national meetings of groups such as the Society for American Music and the American Musicological Society. He has twice won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award (1994 and 2003) for his writing about music and a third time as editor of the journal 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤, a post he held from 2007-2010.

His poetry, meanwhile, has been published in 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦: 𝘈 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧, 𝘉𝘠𝘜 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦, and 𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘺𝘳𝘦, as well as in the anthologies 𝘊𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘰𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 (2008), 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 (2010), and 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 (2011).

His chamber and solo works have been performed and recorded by BYU's University Singers, Concert Choir, and Group for New Music (which he founded in 1987); by other performers around the country (including the Black Swamp Saxophone Quartet and the Memphis Symphony Brass Quintet); and by performing artists at events of the NOVA Chamber Series, American Society of University Composers, Cincinnati Composers Guild, and Subtropics Music Festival. His chamber music may be heard on the CDs 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘯 (1994), 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 (1996), 𝘙𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 (2003), and 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 (2015), all on the Tantara label, which in 2007 also issued his singer-songwriter album 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘵.

His many solo performances range from the Utah premiere (2006) of Morton Feldman's 𝘗𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪 to folk concerts for the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (performed at various locations in Utah and Colorado, 2008).

For more about his work, go to www.michaelhicks.org