THE LOWCOUNTRY'S FINEST CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES
ABOUT OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Photo by Corrine Parker Photography
ANDREW ARMSTRONG | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the United States, including performances at New York’s major stages including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Rudolfinum in Prague and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic.
Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have encompassed a vast repertoire of more than 55 concertos with orchestra. He has performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in solo recitals and in chamber music concerts with the Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, and as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Boston Chamber Music Society, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.
The 2021-2022 season has taken Andy throughout Europe with performances in Glasgow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, London at Wigmore Hall, Geneva at the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve and at the Dresden Music Festival. He crisscrossed Canada with concerts in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Scotia Fest, Montreal at the Festival Musique de Chambre and Vancouver at the Vancouver Chamber Music Society. In November 2022 Andy performs the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle with James Ehnes in Melbourne, Australia.
In addition to his performance activities, Andrew serves as Artistic Director of two thriving series in South Carolina — the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music on Main and the USC Beaufort Chamber Music Series. In 2020, Andrew founded New Canaan Chamber Music in New Canaan, CT and serves as Artistic Director of the flourishing new series now entering its third season. In Wisconsin, from 2017 through 2021, Andrew was Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Wisconsin’s Green Lake Festival of Music.
Andrew’s debut solo CD featuring Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata was released to great critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists play it, recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence” (American Record Guide). He followed that success with a disc on Cordelia Records of works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and the world premiere recording of Lisa Bielawa’s Wait for piano & drone. He has released several award-winning recordings with his longtime recital partner James Ehnes - most recently Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 7 & 10, to stellar reviews. In summer of 2022, he recorded a new solo album of American Composers for release in 2023 which includes Gerwshin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Aaron Jay Kernis’ Before Sleep and Dreams. In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio, WQXR, New York City’s premier classical music station, and stations across the country.
Andrew Armstrong lives happily in Massachusetts, with his wife Esty, their three children Jack (16), Elise (11), and Gabriel (5), and their two dogs Comet & Dooker.