About this Artist

Born: 1958, Monroe, Louisiana

"It's such a mystery, the process of composing, which is part of its appeal. The brain and the heart must constantly keep each other in check. I don't know how I compose. I'll probably go to my grave without ever fully understanding it, and that's fine by me."

Ticheli is known for his orchestral, chamber, choral, and concert band works. In particular, many of his works for band have become standards in the repertoire. He received his doctoral and master's degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, and currently serves a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1991. Awards for his music include two from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music.