Simon Andrews

Simon Andrews is an English composer who is earning a reputation as a creator of eloquent concert music that blends harmonic complexity and lyricism, introversion and broad gestures, delicate timbres and bold statements. His output ranges from large-scale orchestral works and opera to intimate chamber music, with a special delight in chamber music with solo voices. He studied at Oxford University, and the Royal Academy of Music, and gained a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Winner of the 1985 Benjamin Britten Prize, his music has been commissioned and performed to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Since moving to America in 1987, he has pursued a multi-faceted career as composer, conductor and teacher, a combination which led him to undertake his own edition-completion of the Mozart Requiem; this has also been performed to positive reviews on both sides of the pond. He has written a book to accompany the edition: Mozart’s Requiem: from 18th-century forgery to modern hybrid. 

After leaving California he lived in Pennsylvania for 25 years before moving to Massachusetts.  An album of his chamber music And that moment when the bird sings came out in 2017, the title track of  which was described as “a clarinet quintet of lyrical impulse” (Gramophone). Another track, “The heart has narrow banks” was praised as “an art song par excellence. Gentle, intimate and subtle…” (SCI Newsletter) 

He recently finished his second opera The Scars On His Back, about the legendary Native American freedom fighter Po’pay, and is currently working on his third string quartet Possibility is the secret heart of time and an ‘opera bite’ about Beethoven. For more information, to peruse sample scores, to read the libretto of The Scars On His Back or listen to sound clips, visit simonwandrews.com