Welcome to our Spotlight series, a place for our Member Publishers to connect with our License Holders, share new works, and offer updates on their catalogs. Interested in reading more from our Spotlight series? Visit this link! 

K: What new collections or favorite pieces should our License Holders be looking forward to this Spring? Any Easter or Pentecost suggestions?

T: We Come to Worship, my first hymn collection for the congregation, includes a new Easter hymn entitled “Rejoice, This is the Day” that can be sung to my original tune or the great tune THAXTED. It fits in very well with the Gospel reading from Mark appointed for Easter Sunday in Year B! 

I also have a choral cycle of six pieces collectively called The Story of Salvation that features an anthem each for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil and two pieces for Easter. 

If you are looking for a Pentecost anthem, check out “Holy Spirit, You Are With Us Now.” 

A note for our License Holders: “Rejoice, This is the Day” (Song ID 2020-023-5) can be reported here. “Holy Spirit, You Are With Us Now (Song ID 2020-008-X) can be used with Podcast / Streaming or non-commercial Practice-Track permissions and can be reported here.

K: What areas of ministry can be supported by your music? What denominations or groups look to you for music? 

T: My principal concentrations are on choral and congregational music. I like my music to be accessible, which is why I design my choral music so it can be sung in many different situations: the majority of my choral music can be easily adapted to be sung as a vocal solo and work well in unison for small choirs. I like to include harmonic embellishments for larger groups to take advantage of, too.

My congregational hymns are designed to be sung with my own original tunes or with existing, well-known tunes. Learning new hymns can be daunting, so being able to sing a new hymn text to a tune that is well-known and then to learn a new tune with words that are well-known is a method that eases congregations and encourages them to praise God with new music.

The slogan of Trevor Hicks Compositions is “Music for all God’s people.” I wouldn’t classify my music as particular to any one denomination or another.

The flexibility that Trevor’s texts and tunes offer to congregations is especially helpful, as the ways in which we are able to worship together continue to change. Using a familiar tune with one of Trevor’s text settings allows your congregation to experience something traditional and comfortable in a new way. In addition, you can easily report your use of the tune and the text through your ONE LICENSE account. 

K: We are thrilled to have you as a new Member Publisher! What top titles will our License Holders now be able to bring to their congregations?

T: In the physical distancing age that we currently live in, one of my most popular pieces is a piece that I wrote to replace the physical sharing of the peace entitled “Peace Be With You.” A congregational reduction of the score is available through ONE LICENSE for congregations who want to ‘sing the peace’ together (distanced, of course). “When We Call Upon Your Name” is a title that I wrote near the beginning of the first wave of the pandemic that is growing in popularity and has proven to be a favorite. I’m excited to have released my first collection of congregational hymns covering different times of the church year and with the unique feature of being able to use them with existing hymn tunes or my own original tunes. 

The congregational score of “Peace Be With You” (Song ID 2020-011-X) can be downloaded and reported here. “When We Call Upon Your Name” (Song ID 2020-009-X) can be used with Podcast / Streaming or non-commercial Practice-Track permissions and can be reported here. 

K: What can our License Holders look forward to from you in the year to come? What other projects would you like our users to know about?

T: My first new release of 2021 is a new musical setting of the Lord’s Prayer, which I plan to expand into a collection of musicalized prayers, acclamations, and Biblical songs. My popular musical setting of “In Flanders Fields” will be released in time for Memorial Day as well as a hymn to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I also look forward to releasing some music for organ solo and adapting some of my existing repertoire to expand the versatility that I strive for as a composer of sacred music.

K: Anything else you would like to share with us?

T: I’ve begun work on some ideas for studio recordings of music featured in the catalog of Trevor Hicks Compositions. Keep an eye on my website and Facebook page for more information as it becomes available.

Trevor Hicks – Biography 

Trevor Hicks is an organist, vocalist, pianist, composer, and arranger based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Trevor began his musical journey as a vocalist from an early age. Says Trevor, “When I wasn’t talking, I was singing.” Beginning in his late-teen years, Trevor worked with private vocal teachers to become the classically trained vocalist he is today. His one-of-a-kind voice has earned him rave reviews in concerts, performances, and divine worship.

His senior kindergarten teacher remarked on one of his report cards that the five-year-old Trevor would imitate the songs that the class sang together on the classroom piano. Just four years later, at the age of nine, he expressed interest in taking music lessons because he wanted to learn how to play the electronic keyboard that he was gifted. He began his lessons on the electrictronic keyboard, but his instructor thought that he would be better suited to an acoustic piano, and thus he began piano lessons.

A member of the Lutheran church from the age of seven, Trevor had always been fascinated by the organ. He recalls, “I wasn’t really interested in what was happening at the front of the church. I spent most of the time looking behind me and up at the organist at the organ console in the balcony.” At the age of thirteen, the organist allowed Trevor to try the organ and through her mentoring and his own instruction, he learned how to play it. This led Trevor to accompany worship at many churches, accumulating more than two decades of experience as a church musician. The church has been a major influence in his musicality, from his compositions to sermons (most of them musically themed) that he has preached when invited to do so.

He is the proud founder of Trevor Hicks Compositions, his own publishing business that distributes his sacred music works. As his music output grows, so does his reputation as a highly sought after composer of “music for all God’s people.”

Featured image photo copyright information: Photo by Maria Orlova. This image is available for download at www.pexels.com.

All other images are shared with permission by Trevor Hicks.

1.) Photo Credit: Marko Shark

2.) At the console of the Ruffatti organ, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Photo Credit: Trevor Hicks 

3.) Photo Credit: Marko Shark

4.) Photo Credit: Marko Shark