Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1970, Sean Hickey’s earliest music education began at age 12 with an electric guitar, a Peavey amp, and a stack of Van Halen records, the early ones of course. He studied jazz guitar at Oakland University, later graduating with a degree in composition and theory from Wayne State University. His primary instructors were James Hartway and James Lentini.

Since moving to New York, Sean has pursued further studies with Justin Dello Joio and Gloria Coates. His works include two string trios, a string quartet, a flute sonata, a woodwind quintet and trio, several pieces for solo instruments, church as well as orchestral music. He has also worked on a film score, and composed the music for a children’s play, the latter of which received over 80 performances. Sean is also active as an arranger, contributing arrangements for various artists and ensembles in the pop and jazz music spheres, most recently scoring The Winemaker for performances in Philadelphia. 2003 was a busy year with performances of his piano music at New York’s Weill Hall in addition to the first concert dedicated entirely to his chamber and solo music, at CAMI Hall. In 2004, Hickey was awarded a grant from the New York Department of Cultural Affairs as well as a Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center to mount concerts of his work. He has recently fulfilled commissions for New York’s One World Symphony, the Adesso Choral Society in Connecticut, the Spain-based piano/accordion duo An-Tifon, and the Gringolts-Weiss-Fiterstein Trio. He has also recorded a disc of his chamber works for Naxos American Classics, Left at the Fork in the Road, released in November 2005, which broke the Billboard Top 100 Classical Chart. It is available wherever records are sold.

His principal instruments are guitar and piano. Other commissions include works for violinist Ilya Gringolts, flutist Stefan Hoskuldsson, and for Philadelphia-based ensemble Ars Futura. He is a recipient of 2003, 2004 and 2005 ASCAP awards and was named a semi-finalist in the Auros 2001-2002 Composition Competition, also winning second prize in the 1990 State Awards in the former Yugoslavia. The past year has seen numerous performances in New York, Washington DC, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Turkey. He is an ASCAP member and was recently named composer-in-residence with the Metro Chamber Orchestra in New York.

Several of his recording and concert reviews may be found in the pages of the New Music Connoisseur, 21st Century Music, Modern Dance and numerous other publications. He is also a principal contributor to the Omnibus Guide to Classical Music on CD. He has also contributed liner notes to dozens of classical recordings and is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His travel and adventure pieces have appeared in Transitions Abroad, the Burlington Free Press, Trailworks, Trailsource, Orlando Weekly, ITN, Babylon Travel and elsewhere. Otra Dia, a travelogue of the writer’s travels in Peru, was published in 1998 by Cantabile Press.