A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Marianne Forman has been arranging and composing since childhood. She holds a B.S. in Music Education with concentrations in piano and choral music. Because of her extensive background in church music, in both large and small congregations, Marianne is passionate about creating music that is both beautiful and functional.

She is a four-time attendee of the John Ness Bess Foundation Composers’ Workshop, studying composition under Dan Forrest, Craig Courtney, and Howard Helvey. In 2021, she was invited to a summer mentoring session with Dan Forrest, sponsored by the John Ness Beck Foundation. In 2020, Marianne was awarded an honorable mention in the King’s Singers New Music Prize for her SSAA setting of James Weldon Johnson’s “The Gift to Sing,” and in 2023 she won both categories of the Stockton Chorale Emerging Women Composers Competition for her settings of “The Pasture” for SATB choir and “Wanderlust” for SA youth choir. Her sacred and concert choral pieces have been performed around the world and are appreciated for their compelling melodies and accessible settings.

In addition to composing, Marianne is an adjudicator and private piano instructor in sunny San Diego, California, where she resides with her husband and four children.