Ethan Watts is a composer and performer whose music explores ideas of faith, nature, and love. Owing to a unique musical upbringing in both classical piano and contemporary church music, Ethan’s music is firmly rooted in the confluence between classical and popular sound-worlds. Above all else, he seeks get to the heart of truth in a world full of mystery.
Ethan’s works have been premiered by the Taylor Chorale, the Taylor Sounds, and Orchestra Indiana, and have been enjoyed by audiences in the United States and in Romania. His multi-movement work for chorus and orchestra, When Old Words Die Out, was commissioned after his first year in college as part of a faculty-mentored research scholarship. This project was developed in close partnership with conductor Reed Spencer over summer 2022, setting texts by Rabindranath Tagore. The premiere of the work in May 2023 facilitated the revival of a historic partnership between the Taylor Chorale and Orchestra Indiana (previously, Marion Philharmonic). This experience has informed the way Ethan recruits performers, manages rehearsals, and builds professional relationships.
In recognition of his collaborative spirit and efforts to further musical excellence at Taylor University, Ethan earned the Presser Foundation Scholar Award in 2025. For Ethan, collaboration is at the core of the creative process. He believes that the most fulfilling artistic work emerges as a joint effort between the composer and the conductor or performer from the very germ of a compositional idea through to its fruition. The spirit of partnership inherent to choral music has had a great influence on Ethan’s compositional voice, which is driven by the shape of each individual line and the way they weave together. While choral music has been central to Ethan’s work so far, he is increasingly drawn to the expressive potential of music without words, and looks forward to working with instrumental performers and ensembles in the future.
Ethan is an accomplished pianist. In 2025, he won first prize in the Charles Joray Piano Competition, playing a program of Chopin and Messiaen. Recent repertoire includes the Goldberg Variations (Bach), the Piano Sonata (Berg), and movements from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Messiaen). In addition, he has been hired to play in pit orchestras for productions of both popular and original musicals. He also has years of experience as a choral singer in both large and chamber ensembles, such as the Peabody NEXT ensemble under Dr. Beth Willer and the Taylor Chorale under Dr. Reed Spencer, as well as in intimate one-per-part groups.
Ethan is currently working towards a master’s degree in Composition at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in the studio of Michael Hersch. He earned his B.M. in Composition at Taylor University, where he studied with Jonathan Brooks and Todd Syswerda. In the future, he hopes to compose for musicians, friends, and ensembles all over the world, as well as to continue to learn from and stretch his fellow musicians in the pursuit of goodness, beauty and truth.