Originally from Goshen, Indiana, Ethan Setiawan tried out numerous instruments before finding his way to the mandolin. Years later, Setiawan has a command of the instrument far beyond his twenty-five years, and has won both the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield, KS and the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship. On his album, “Gambit”, Setiawan takes the calculated musical risks of a seasoned player.  He moves aptly between stylistic influences, harkening back to the experimental string band music pioneered in the early 80s while presenting entirely original compositions. 

As a teen, Setiawan began driving to Chicago to take lessons with Don Stiernberg, and travelled to California to attend The Mandolin Symposium.  After finishing high school, he attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. “I think I came into Berklee as a very technically oriented musician, but just being exposed to so many different styles and incredible musicians really broadened my musical horizons, and gave me a deeper understanding of artistry and musicality beyond technical proficiency”, he explains.

Since then, his path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, to Bach partitas, to free jazz. His debut full-length album, “Flux” is made up of original tunes drawing from all these wells.  In retrospect, Setiawan can see immense growth in himself since the release of “Flux”.  “I can look at most of those tunes and point you back to a Matt Flinner tune or a Bela Fleck tune that I drew inspiration from, but it feels more like a school project to me, something that I set out to do with a specific goal in mind, whereas “Gambit” feels more like my own artistic statement.”