Ethan Frederick Greene was born on October 10, 1982 in South Orange, New Jersey. At the age of seven, he first experienced the thrill of musical innovation when he accompanied his brother Abe (guitar) on clarinet in an interpretation of Jimi Hendix’s “Purple Haze”. A few years later, Ethan began studying trumpet with Calvin Hughes – former sideman to Billie Holliday, Coleman Hawkins and Big Maybelle – at the Newark Community School of the Arts. There, he first set pen(cil) to paper in composition, writing simple blues and jazz tunes for small ensembles. Around the same time, he picked up the guitar and taught himself a wide array of styles within the Nirvana catalog; in 1994, he founded the seminal pre-pubescent post-punk band Count Scoopula. Ethan received his B.A. in Music from Amherst College (2004) and M.Mus. in Composition from Rice University (2009), and is currently working toward his doctorate in Composition at the University of Texas at Austin.
Until recently, Ethan’s acoustic compositions have been primarily for small chamber ensembles and solo instruments, and his electronic compositions for fixed media or “tape” (sound file playback). However, the past year has seen a flurry of new directions for the composer. In April Ethan completed his first orchestral work, A Mouthful of Gravel (scheduled for performance by the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra on Feb. 13, 2010); throughout the summer he designed sound (effects, user interface audio, etc.) for the popular iPhone game Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, produced by Tiger Style Games; and in July, he participated in the Houston Grand Opera’s Song of Houston project, for which he composed his first vocal piece, entitled I Miss New Orleans, using text by a 10th-grade high school student named Courtney, who was forced to flee New Orleans and settle in Houston as a result of Hurricane Katrina. He has also begun to work with live interactive electronics, and hopes to develop software that can turn any recorded speech into a slam poetry.
After the success of Song of Houston, the HGO has since commissioned Ethan to write a new one-act opera for their Opera to Go! series. Based on the libretto by Irene Keleher, the piece is scheduled to open in May, 2010, and will be performed throughout middle and high schools in Houston. More info to come!
Ethan continues to perform as a trumpeter, bassist and keyboard player in various ensembles, including Mediums (Austin, TX) and Ratfink (New York, NY). Principal teachers include Russell Pinkston, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Arthur Gottschalk, Karim Al-Zand, Kurt Stallmann, Eric Sawyer and Bruce Diehl.
List of Works (not up to date)