Frank Ticheli is an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and concert band works. Ticheli graduated from L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas and earned a bachelor’s of music in composition 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. Subsequently, Ticheli was 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. He was the Pacific Symphony's composer-in-residence from 1991 to 1998, composing numerous works for that orchestra. A number of his works are particularly notable, as they have become standards in concert band repertoire. In 2011, he endowed the Frank Ticheli Composition Scholarship to be awarded each year to an incoming graduate student in composition.
Portrait by Charlie Grosso
