Born in San Jose, California, Michael Hicks (1956- ) 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)