Biography

Andrew began his musical life as a classically trained percussionist and pianist. He took up piano and accordion at the age of five, accompanying his mother's Morris Dancing Team, (a tradition he would later revisit at university). As a teenager, Andrew found himself playing music at his local church, in rock, jazz and indie bands at school, and was a founder member of the award-winning Taplow Youth Choir. Andrew went on to read music at university receiving a first-class honours degree in Music (BA) from the University of East Anglia (UEA), a PGCE (University of Buckingham), and a Masters in Composition & Orchestration for Film, TV & Games (MA) from the world’s first online Film Scoring School, Thinkspace Education Ltd (University of Chichester). Andrew is currently mentored and coached by award-winning Canadian film & TV composer, Robbie Teehan, and conductor & composer Benjamin Pope. At UEA he received the George Alfred Norman-Watkins Memorial Scholarship and Dorothea and Rowan Hare Scholarship for performance and now performs with many different hats on.  He studied percussion with Simon Limbrick exploring contemporary works for multi-percussion, marimba and vibraphone. Academic modules included Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music, Composition, Score/Aural/Tonal Analysis, Sound and Information, Sources, Conducting, Electroacoustic composition, The Englishness of English Music, Process and Situation: The composer and his work in the late twentieth century, Sound for image/sound design, Recording and Studio Skills. 

Andrew’s diverse body of work includes compositions for film and TV, orchestral pieces, choral works, and chamber music. His largest work to date, A Mass for Planet Earth for SATB, orchestra, and organ, was commissioned in 2021 and premiered in March 2023 at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, to a full audience. In 2016, Andrew won the Sloane Square Choral Society Composition Competition with his entry Cantate Domino for SATB, organ, harp, and percussion. As a media composer, Andrew has recorded albums with Warner Chappell Production Music (Warner Music Group), JW Media, Cutting Edge Media Music, Gold Top, and Hitpoint Production Music Libraries. His music has featured in popular BBC programmes such as Gardener’s World, Chelsea Flower Show, and Countryfile, with film credits listed on IMDb. Andrew earned his first IMDb credit in 2018 for Tessellation by Charmaine Mujeri and Agnieszka Pietrowska in collaboration with ThinkSpace Productions. Recent projects include scoring the shorts Rocket Fuel (2024) & The Scales (2022) by Jack Parfitt. Andrew’s choral works include Hope is the Thing with Feathers for SATB choir, flute, and piano, commissioned in 2023 by the Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society for their 90th anniversary. His Christmas Motets—O Magnum Mysterium (SSAATTBB), Lux Fulgébit (SSAATTBB + optional marimba), and Veni, Veni O Oriens (double choir + soprano saxophone)—were composed for the Norwich Consort of Voices and British saxophonist Finlay McEwen.

An ardent supporter of music education and outreach, Andrew has worked with Norwich School for over a decade teaching music up to A-Level. He has enjoyed many roles including Tutor-to-Choristers, Acting Head of Academic Music, Head of Instrumental Music & Composition (2019-2023), as well as Choral Director of the school's Choral Society. In 2016, the school's Chapel Choir travelled to the Royal Festival Hall to perform in the final of the Barnados National Choir of the Year Competition (2016). Andrew has enjoyed working with Norwich School Choral Society, who have collaborated with London Mozart Players & Norwich Baroque, as well as working with the Gateway Players Senior Orchestra, Uberbeat Percussion Ensemble, and Concert/Jazz Bands. Andrew has worked with English Touring Opera (ETO) and the Royal College of Music (RCM) in partnership with Turtle Key Arts on the ‘Turtle Song’ project for people suffering with Dementia, (with support from the Alzheimer's Society). Orchestrated by Charlotte Cunningham (founder of Turtle) & Tim Yealland (ETO), the 10-week course provided an opportunity for people with dementia and their companions to sing and compose their own songs with professional musicians.  The project's fifth outing was held at the Warden's Centre just north of Aldeburgh and led by John Petter and Alys Kihl.  Andrew recently supported London Chamber Orchestra's Music Junction outreach project in Norfolk, and has had the privilege of conducting the High School's Choir Festivals and CASMA projects for the Norfolk Music Service in recent years. He is proud to have coordinated the initial “Primary Schools Singing Project” with Ashley Grote (Master of Music)​; an outreach programme with the Choristers at Norwich Cathedral.  The scheme reaches around 12 primary schools per year (around 250 children) and each school perform songs and warm-ups, learnt during workshops, for a concert at Norwich Cathedral. The Cathedral musicians offer an organ demonstration from the Master of Music, and a performance from the Cathedral Choir. The scheme also offers opportunities for sixth form musicians to work in the community to gain vital experience for those interested in a career in music in the future.

An accomplished orchestrator and conductor, Andrew has worked with ensembles including the The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players (LMP), the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (RPCO), The Triorca International Youth Orchestra and Norwich Baroque. He is an experienced MD and pit musician for musical theatre having worked on over 20 different shows including performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Norwich Playhouse including Bugsy Malone, Chicago, Footloose (MD), Grease with Oscars XI (MD, Edinburgh Festival), Fame (MD) Guys & Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar, Legally Blonde, Les Miserables, Little Shop of Horrors with Oscars XI (MD, Edinburgh Festival), Sweeney Todd, Sweet Charity, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, and We Will Rock You.

He enjoys arranging music for big bands, choirs and small ensembles. If you are interested in these services, do get in touch.

A professionally-trained singer, Andrew's first experience of singing was at 16 with Taplow Youth Choir under the direction of Gillian Dibden, and performed at University Church Oxford, St. George’s Chapel Windsor and at Eton College Chapel for a BBC Radio 3 recording of evensong.  The choir won the National Music Festival for Youth in 2008, the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year Competition forthe Youth Category, and toured to Europe with a varied repertoire.  It was with this choir that he learnt his craft. Since then,  Andrew has been fortunate to have performed in some of the most celebrated venues in the UK including the Royal Festival Hall, The Southbank Centre, Snape Maltings and the Royal Albert Hall.  Andrew enjoys performing oratorio works as a bass soloist, and is in demand as a soloist and chorus singer, particularly in the East of England. In 2011-12 he held a scholarship at Norwich Cathedral as a Bass Choral Scholar and regularly deps as a Bass layclerk for services, recordings, broadcasts and tours. Recent CDs include Britten's Sacred Choral Music as well as 'Evening Hymn; Music of Light' (2018). Andrew studied with Andrew Yeats, David Lowe, Patricia Rozario, & Ben Johnson; (BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist).Andrew has sung in many choirs including The Cantus Ensemble, The Morley Consort of Voices, Northampton Bach Choir, Norwich Cathedral Choir, Novi Cantores, Sonitus Chamber Choir, The Choir of St. Peter Mancroft, Taplow Youth Choir,and the UEA Chamber Choir.  He has performed the role of ‘Polyphemus’ in a chamber performance of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, the role of 'Councillor' in the ACE-funded musical theatre production of 'Strike!', in March 2021 with Do Different Productions​. Solo oratorio work includes Handel’s Messiah, Rossini's Petite Messe Sollenelle, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Schubert's ​Mass in Gand the Requiem masses by Brahms, Fauré, Duruflé, and Mozart amongst other repertoire (see performance history). Andrew has been fortunate to sing in some of the most beautiful churches and cathedrals in the UK including Rochester Cathedral, St. Paul's Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Eton College Chapel, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Magdalen, Merton & University Colleges in Oxford, and Clare, St. John's & Fitzwilliam Colleges in Cambridge. He enjoyed being Artistic Director (2012-2015) of the acclaimed Morley Consort of Voices who, during that time, sang at Hampton Court Palace to celebrate their 500th year anniversary, and a semi-staged performance of Henry Purcell's famous Dido & Aeneas with Norwich Baroque. He co-founded the group in 2009 with the late composer and musicologist Peter Aston who was Professor Emeritus at the UEA. As a singer and percussionist he has performed under the baton of David Parry, Bob Chilcott, Ben Pope, Christopher Adey, David Dunnett, Ashley Grote, Jiří Bělohlávek, Matthew Andrews, Richard Allain, Sharon Choa & Peter Aston.

Andrew is an accomplished percussionist and multi-instrumentalist (piano & accordion) with over a decade of experience, including 10 years touring with the acclaimed contemporary English folk band Inlay. He features on their self-titled album (2012), live EP (2015), and Forge (2016), performing across major UK folk festivals including Beardy Folk Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Bromyard Folk Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Cheltenham Folk Festival, Gate to Southwell Folk Festival, Leigh-on-Sea Folk Festival, Manchester Folk Festival, Moseley Folk Festival, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Sidmouth Folk Week, Towersey Festival & Warwick Folk Festival.  

As a percussionist, Andrew has performed with the UEA Symphony Orchestra, Norfolk Pops Orchestra, The Academy of St. Thomas, The Mozart Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Anglia, The Cathedral Players, The Southrepps Sinfonia, Front Row Big Band as well as playing in pit bands for youth music theatre productions. Andrew has led percussion workshops, assisted with the Uberbeat ensemble at Norwich School, and worked at the Norfolk Centre for Young Musicians (NCYM / GSMD). His interest in Gamelan, Indian classical music (tabla), Japanese Taiko, and African drumming has significantly influenced his compositions. Notable recordings include percussion with The Academy of St. Thomas for Saint-Saens Variations on a Theme of Beethoven (arr. Christopher Adey), Gliere’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano with Catherine May, and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with Hannah Perowne. He has worked with esteemed conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Nicholas Daniel, Benjamin Pope, Toby Purser, and Sharon Choa.

Despite a predominantly classical background on piano and orchestral percussion, Andrew was drawn towards electro acoustic genres at university through the Sonic Arts research programme.  He got the chance to collaborate with composer Simon Waters on a piece entitled 'Melt'  for marimba and live electronics performed at the UEA, Sonic Arts 64 concert, April 2012.

REPERTOIRE:

Tuned Percussion

- BLUES FOR GILBERT,  vibraphone,  Mark Glentworth 
- BOOGIE, for vibraphone and piano,  Richard Michael
- CHILDREN'S SONGS,  arr. for vibraphone and saxophone,  Chick Corea
- MARIMBA DANCES, marimba,  Ross Edwards
- MELT,  for marimba and live electronics,  Simon Waters
- PAGANINI PERSONAL,  for marimba and piano,  Toshi Ichiyanagi
- RHYTHM SONG,  marimba,  Paul Smadbeck
- SARABANDE IN E MINOR,  marimba,  J.S. Bach
- YELLOW AFTER THE RAIN,  marimba,  Mitchell Peters

Multi - percussion

- BONGO-O,  two bongos and timbales sticks,  Roberto Sierra
- CENAS AMERINDIAS,  for solo percussion,  Ney Rosauro {'BRAZILIANA' for Marimba and Wood Instruments}
- PERCUSSIONE CEMBALO E BATTERIE ELETTRONICHE,  for tam-tam, tabla, and Max/MSP Patch,  Andy Weeks and Simon Fraser Duncan
- SUSPENDED CONTACT,  scored for alto saxophone and multi-percussion,  Shawn Crouch
- TEMAZCAL,  for Maracas and Tape,  Javier Alvarez
- REBONDS A,  scored for 7 drums, Iannis Xenakis