Biography

From Classical Roots to a Digital Rebirth

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Andy began playing guitar at age 9

He started his formal training on classical guitar at age 11, studying privately with Frank Koonce, Professor of Music and classical guitar director at Arizona State University. After high school, Andy was accepted into the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University and studied there under a full merit scholarship, earning his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with Nathaniel Gunod and Julian Gray.

Though his focus was on classical guitar performance, Andy began to feel that he wanted to do more with the guitar than perform.

He found inspiration and encouragement from his contact with guitarist/composer Andrew York. Despite his degree focus, he was allowed to study composition at Peabody with composer Dr. Chen Yi. He was also encouraged in his composing by Julian Gray and permitted to premier one of his compositions, “March of the Ants,” during his Masters recital.

After graduating early in December of 1996, Andy continued to compose for the guitar and in 1999, recorded his first CD, “Chimaera,” featuring seven of his own compositions.

During his performance career, Andy often included his compositions in his concerts, considering his music as a way to reach out to the non-classical community. “I believe there is a great level of interest in the guitar waiting to be discovered in audiences who assume ‘classical’ is something old and archaic,” Andy states, regarding his CD. “I hope that people will see the amazing capability of this instrument and I want to share that through my music.”

Andy first began experimenting with composing beyond the guitar when he adapted several of his guitar compositions for the science-fiction video game, The Star Legation.

After importing 10 of his guitar compositions into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and re-assigning synthesized instrumentation to the voices, he tried composing unique melodies into the DAW to experiment. His first composition on the DAW, “Plasma,” was designed for The Star Legation trailer, and its successful reception resulted in 30 more unique digital compositions to complete the 40-piece, 99 minute soundtrack for the game. Today, Andy continues to compose for the guitar and video games, and is also writing for YouTube and Twitch channels.

The original soundtrack for The Star Legation is on sale separately alongside the game on Steam, and also includes 9 pages of detailed composer notes.

Sheet music and mp3 recordings of Andy’s guitar music are on sale on his guitar composition website.