Works performed by Earplay:

A Bonsai Garden, Set VII

Born in Seattle, WA, Brian R. Banks began his formal study of composition at age sixteen. He holds degrees from the Peabody Institute, the San Francisco Conservatory, and a Ph.D. in Music from the University of California at Berkeley. His principal teachers have included Robert Lundquist, Morris Moshe Cotel, Andrew Imbrie, Richard Felciano, and Olly Wilson. In 1996 Brian received a Fulbright Scholar award for research and teaching in Mexico, and since 1998 he has been Professor of Music at the Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, Mexico.

Brian's music has been featured at numerous venues in the U.S. and Mexico, including the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva "Manuel Enríquez" in Mexico City, as well as the Velia Festival and Oregon Bach Festival. Large compositional projects include Las Campanas de Cholula (2010), a commission by the City Hall of Cholula, Puebla, for a soundscape involving the 18 bell towers surrounding the city center; the Serenatas Nos. 1, 2 & 3; and his Symphony No. 2: Sanctuary, which premiered in 2017.

His recordings include the Serenata No. 1 by the North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra; the solo disc Brian Banks: Sonatas and Preludes, with pianist Geoffrey Burleson on Centaur Records; Cinco Canciones con poemas de Juan Ramón Jiménez, recorded by the UDLA Chamber Chorus on Quindecim Records; and Destierros (Blues Tropes), a work commissioned by the Ensemble Signos with support from the U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture. A recording of Brian's Sets I-VI of A Bonsai Garden was released in Mexico in 2013.