Martin Ellis

Like many professional musicians, Martin Ellis (b. 1967) began piano lessons at an early age in his native state of Indiana. At age eleven, he played his first church service. Ellis went on to study keyboard performance and composition at Indiana’s prestigious DePauw University School of Music in Greencastle, Indiana. For over twenty years, Martin enjoyed a varied and diverse career serving several large congregations in the Indianapolis area. He also worked as one of the senior staff keyboard artists and staff arranger/orchestrator for the internationally recognized Indianapolis Children’s Choir and Youth Chorale, organist for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as a studio musician for two area recording studios that specialized in demonstration recordings for several major music publishers in the United States. As a composer and arranger, his pieces have been published for choral and youth choir organizations by Hal Leonard Publishing and Colla Voce Music Publishing and have been featured at numerous choral festivals and by leading conductors in the field. As a concert classical and theater organist, Martin has appeared at numerous major venues across the country. His programs have focused on featuring traditional literature integrated with a large variety of new pieces by current active composers and bridging the traditional gap between classical and popular music styles. This approach serves to educate and broaden the musical tastes of audience members with their respective preferences for one style or the other. Most recently, Martin appeared on the San Diego 35th International Pipe Organ Festival on the famous outdoor Austin Pipe Organ in Balboa Park that featured “Music at the Movies” and other original works for organ in a variety of styles.

In 2012, Martin relocated to the Portland, Oregon area. He is currently the Music Director and Organist at Vancouver First United Methodist Church in neighboring Vancouver, Washington, where he directs a comprehensive choral and instrumental program as well as oversees a growing community arts concert series that serves as home base for Clark College Choirs and the independent semi-professional Reprise Choir Organization in Vancouver. During the 2019 pandemic, Martin made the decision to pursue composing for organ and other instruments. Today he operates Martin Ellis Music, which has self-published numerous pieces, maintains an active YouTube channel of all his works, and has a growing body of work published by Lorenz Corporation of Dayton, Ohio. Martin lives in downtown Portland and enjoys an active presence in the area arts community and diverse musical world of the Pacific Northwest.