In 1992, while still in graduate school, Banks founded the professional-caliber chamber chorus, The Esoterics, which performs rarely heard compositions of contemporary music for unaccompanied voices.

In recognition for their efforts in choral innovation, Banks and The Esoterics have been honored four times with the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for the Adventurous Programming.

As a composer, Banks draws on foreign poetry, classical civilization, comparative religion, social justice, and natural science.

Together with The Esoterics, Banks has received two grants the National Endowment for the Arts, to compose, produce, and record concert-length works – Twelve Qur'anic visions (2007), and The seven creations (2010).

In both of these works, Banks set melodies that he found in field research while traveling in Indonesia and India, including the Arabic tajwid (Islamic Qur'anic chants), and the Persian gathas (ancient Zoroastrian hymns).