Originally from Tallahassee, FL, Ethan Kaminsky is a musician and composer with a love for listening to and creating music of all kinds.  Ethan completed his B.M. in Music Composition at Michigan State University under world-renowned composers, Dr. Zhou Tian and Dr. David Biedenbender, and is now serving as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Florida as he completes his master’s degree.  Ethan is an accomplished trumpet player who has participated in many ensembles including the Michigan State Wind Symphony, University of Florida Wind Symphony, Spartan Marching Band, MSU Honors Brass Quintet, MSU and UF Trumpet Ensembles, and Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps (2021-2024).

Ethan enjoys composing for different mediums and instrumentations in a variety of styles and genres with a focus on innovative and exciting music for concert bands.  He takes inspiration from significant 20th and 21st century wind band composers including John Mackey, David Maslanka, Frank Ticheli, William Schumann, and Malcolm Arnold, as well as orchestral composers such as Shostakovich and Bartok.  In April of 2023, Ethan was the winner of MSU’s Honors Composition Competition, which earned him the opportunity to have his piece, Lacedaemon, premiered by the MSU Symphony Band.  He was also a winner of the 2024 Barbara Wagner Composition Commission Competition and was commissioned to compose a chamber ensemble work, Skyline, for the Quartet Fiume Saxophone Ensemble. Recently, Ethan was one of six composers selected as a winner of Julie Giroux’s 2025 Call for Scores, and his piece, Unfolding Horizons, will be programmed by Julie over the coming year as she conducts various all-state and district honor bands around the nation.

Ethan is the son of the nationally recognized Director of Bands at VanderCook College of Music, Alex Kaminsky, who was his high school band director and a primary influence on him in the music field. He aspires to one day be recognized as a successful composer, educator, and inspiration to musicians for generations to come.