Ethan McGrath is an award-winning composer, pianist, and organist. His compositions have received awards from the Instytut Musica Sacra in Poland, as well as Alfred Music and the Southeastern Composers League. A selection of his music is available in print from such publishers as Oxford University Press, Schott Music, and Hal Leonard.
Ethan’s choral works have been featured in workshops by Rodney Eichenberger and have been performed by such ensembles as the Tapei Chamber Singers and the Vocalis Chamber Choir of Buffalo, NY, as well as various choirs at the University of Cambridge, including King’s Voices, the Clare College Choir, and the Pembroke College Choir, under Ben Parry, Graham Ross, and Anna Lapwood, respectively. He has also written works on commission for Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College (Cambridge), Suzi Digby and the Voce Chamber Choir (London), and the American Choral Directors Association.
Ethan earned a BMus in Composition under Jonathan McNair at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has participated in masterclasses with such composers as Steven Sametz and Libby Larsen, in addition to attending three of the Melodious Accord Fellowship Programs at the home of Alice Parker.
An avid pianist, Ethan studied piano under Sin-Hsing Tsai and was a winner of the concerto competitions at UT Chattanooga and Southern Adventist University as an undergraduate. He has performed in masterclasses for such pianists as Jon Kimura Parker, Walter Hautzig, and Markus Vorzellner, and has accompanied singers in masterclasses for Bo Skovhus and Charles Reid, among others. He has also performed with such ensembles as Opera Tennessee, the Figment Chamber Ensemble, and the Chattanooga Symphony, and has frequently participated in Southern Adventist University’s Chamber Music Weekend.
Particularly passionate about art song, Ethan organized the Chattanooga Art Song Series from 2022-2024, in which he collaborated with local singers in repertoire ranging from Schubert’s Winterreise to Spanish songs by Granados and De Falla. In 2023 Ethan completed the lieder course at AIMS in Graz, Austria, and has been hired to return to AIMS as a staff pianist.
Also experienced as an organist and choral director, Ethan studied organ with Judy Glass as an undergraduate and subsequently took organ lessons from Barry Jordan at the Magdeburg Cathedral in Germany and from Sarah MacDonald at Selwyn College, Cambridge. In 2014-2015 Ethan spent a year studying German at the Theologischen Hochschule Friedensau, where he frequently played the organ for chapel services. At Friedensau Ethan was awarded the Waltraud and Herbert Blomstedt Prize, a scholarship established by Blomstedt for musically gifted students, and he was later invited to perform at a gala concert in Dresden in honor of Blomstedt’s 90th birthday.
In 2017 Ethan earned an MMus in Choral Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he studied conducting under Stephen Layton, Timothy Brown, and Graham Ross, among others. During his time at Cambridge Ethan served as Assistant Director of Music at Churchill College and as Organist/Choirmaster at St. James Church, Wulfstan Way. Stateside, Ethan has served as organist at First Baptist Church of Chattanooga and as Chair of Professional Development for the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), in which capacity he organized the Chattanooga AGO Composition Competition in 2021 and 2022. Ethan is currently a DMA candidate in collaborative piano at Boston University.
Ethan’s choral works have been featured in workshops by Rodney Eichenberger and have been performed by such ensembles as the Tapei Chamber Singers and the Vocalis Chamber Choir of Buffalo, NY, as well as various choirs at the University of Cambridge, including King’s Voices, the Clare College Choir, and the Pembroke College Choir, under Ben Parry, Graham Ross, and Anna Lapwood, respectively. He has also written works on commission for Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College (Cambridge), Suzi Digby and the Voce Chamber Choir (London), and the American Choral Directors Association.
Ethan earned a BMus in Composition under Jonathan McNair at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has participated in masterclasses with such composers as Steven Sametz and Libby Larsen, in addition to attending three of the Melodious Accord Fellowship Programs at the home of Alice Parker.
An avid pianist, Ethan studied piano under Sin-Hsing Tsai and was a winner of the concerto competitions at UT Chattanooga and Southern Adventist University as an undergraduate. He has performed in masterclasses for such pianists as Jon Kimura Parker, Walter Hautzig, and Markus Vorzellner, and has accompanied singers in masterclasses for Bo Skovhus and Charles Reid, among others. He has also performed with such ensembles as Opera Tennessee, the Figment Chamber Ensemble, and the Chattanooga Symphony, and has frequently participated in Southern Adventist University’s Chamber Music Weekend.
Particularly passionate about art song, Ethan organized the Chattanooga Art Song Series from 2022-2024, in which he collaborated with local singers in repertoire ranging from Schubert’s Winterreise to Spanish songs by Granados and De Falla. In 2023 Ethan completed the lieder course at AIMS in Graz, Austria, and has been hired to return to AIMS as a staff pianist.
Also experienced as an organist and choral director, Ethan studied organ with Judy Glass as an undergraduate and subsequently took organ lessons from Barry Jordan at the Magdeburg Cathedral in Germany and from Sarah MacDonald at Selwyn College, Cambridge. In 2014-2015 Ethan spent a year studying German at the Theologischen Hochschule Friedensau, where he frequently played the organ for chapel services. At Friedensau Ethan was awarded the Waltraud and Herbert Blomstedt Prize, a scholarship established by Blomstedt for musically gifted students, and he was later invited to perform at a gala concert in Dresden in honor of Blomstedt’s 90th birthday.
In 2017 Ethan earned an MMus in Choral Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he studied conducting under Stephen Layton, Timothy Brown, and Graham Ross, among others. During his time at Cambridge Ethan served as Assistant Director of Music at Churchill College and as Organist/Choirmaster at St. James Church, Wulfstan Way. Stateside, Ethan has served as organist at First Baptist Church of Chattanooga and as Chair of Professional Development for the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), in which capacity he organized the Chattanooga AGO Composition Competition in 2021 and 2022. Ethan is currently a DMA candidate in collaborative piano at Boston University.
