Andrew was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, in 1984. His musical career began when he was aged seven and started to teach himself the piano. At primary school he went on to learn the clarinet and tuba and was priviledged to play as a guest soloist on clarinet with Sheffield Chamber Orchestra. He also played regularly with the award-winning Tapton Youth Brass Band, of which he was a member when they won the schools’ section of the Boosey & Hawkes National Youth Brass Band Championships in 2003. Andrew was also a keen recorder player, and was a member of Sheffield Royale Recorder Consort for many years, winning with them a Highly Commended award at the National Festival of Music For Youth in 1994.

In 2000 Andrew joined the amateur musical scene as a rehearsal accompanist. In the following years his taste for leading rehearsals grew and he has now gained much experience as a repetiteur and musical director in the north of England.

Andrew’s interest in composition developed at the age of fourteen, and he began studying with Robin McEwan. By the age of seventeen he had completed a mass setting for choir and orchestra and other smaller pieces for choir, and arrangements and original pieces for wind ensemble.

In 2002 Andrew was awarded a studentship at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he now studies with Gary Carpenter. He has had pieces performed at an international festival of the music of Schumann and Brahms and also at a festival dedicated to the work of Giya Kancheli. His works have been performed in workshops with the Apollo Saxophone Quartet and the BBC Singers, and has been involved in a masterclass with James MacMillan.

At the RNCM Andrew has also studied piano with Stephen Reynolds, and currently has lessons in conducting with Phillipe Bach. In 2006 he will embark on a Master of Music degree at the same institution.

Andrew is an admirer of the works of Magnus Lindberg and Elliott Carter, and has a soft spot for the operas of Richard Wagner!