Featured Composer: Michael McAndrew
Michael McAndrew (b.1993) is a recent graduate of Moravian College, obtaining his BM degree in Music Composition summa cum laude with Honors in Music. While there, he studied piano with Dr. Arianna Goldina, Dr. Barbara Thompson, and collaborative piano with Graeme Burgan. His primary composition teachers were Dr. Larry Lipkis, Dr. Tae Sakamoto, and Mr. Sean O'Boyle. He also studied organ with Becky Owens, voice with Tanya O'Brien and Eduardo Azzati, and jazz piano with David Roth. He was a member of the Moravian Choir, Jazz Fusion, Jazz Combo II, BIG Band, Wind Ensemble, and Marching Band. As a performer, he has played with jazz greats such as Randy Brecker and Phil Woods. He also accompanied many Moravian students throughout his time there. Mike is also a proud member of the Sigma Lambda Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Mike was a recipient of the Leon Prokofy Leonovitch award for highest progress as a sophomore, and of the Steven Van Auken Performance award as a rising junior. When Moravian became an All-Steinway institution, Mike was selected to accompany the music faculty to Jacob & Sons in Philadelphia to select the new pianos for the college. He was also part of a two-person SOAR Project in the summer of 2013, and flew to Leipzig in July of 2014 to hear the Hasse opera, La Spartana Generosa, performed at the NEH Institute. The modern edition of this opera will be performed again with the Burnaby Lyric Opera in April of 2015.
As a composer of concert works, Mike won the Bach Choir Young Composer's Competition in January 2013 with his work Midnight for SATB Chorus. He has also had pieces performed by the Bel Canto Children's Chorus and the Moravian Women's Chorus, BIG Band, Wind Ensemble, and Woodwind Trio. His clarinet concerto, Visions Unbroken, in honor of the late Allison Perno, was premiered in November of 2014 with the Moravian College Community Orchestra. Mike is also a member of ASCAP, or the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
He currently lives in Peckville, PA; a suburb of Scranton. He also travels to Bethlehem, PA to play at his alma mater (Moravian) and monthly at the Hotel Bethlehem.