Michael Grace grew up in Philadelphia He attended Pomfret School in Connecticut and then Colorado College, where he graduated in 1963. Working with Professor Albert Seay in the Music Department, he earned a master’s degree the following year, and then went to Yale University for doctoral studies. He finished his PhD there in 1974. Meanwhile, he had joined the faculty at Colorado College as a music historian in 1967. He retired from the college in 2023.