ABOUT OUR
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ANDREW ARMSTRONG

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 Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic.

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Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have encompassed a vast repertoire of more than 60 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 Ehnes, Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, and at chamber music festivals around the country.

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This 2026-27 season, Andrew joins longtime friend and duo partner, two-time Grammy winning violinist James Ehnes in a cross-country tour of Canada, playing in each capital, province, and territory. In Tuscany, Italy, Andrew directs and hosts an annual Chamber Music Festival bringing together great music with magical venues and unforgettable experiences. Back in the States, year-round, Andrew directs and hosts five thriving chamber music series. Three of them are in South Carolina – in Beaufort (USCB Chamber Music), in Columbia (SC Philharmonic’s Andy & Friends), and in Greenville (Andy & Friends, at Furman University). He also directs New Canaan Chamber Music in Connecticut and A Little Night Music in Worcester, MA, the vibrant city where Andrew lives happily with his wife Esty, their three children Jack, Elise, and Gabriel. 

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In recent seasons, Andrew performed Grazyna Bacewicz’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto both with the South Carolina Philharmonic; Bach with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in Winnipeg and Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Waterbury Symphony in Connecticut, solo recitals in Glasgow, Scotland and in London’s Wigmore Hall; violin recitals with James Ehnes as well at the Wigmore and at Ann Arbor’s University of Michigan; Chamber Music in Halifax, NS & Portland, ME; Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the South Carolina Philharmonic; last year, Andrew released two albums: the solo album “In Blue,” featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Julia Perry, William Grant Still, and Aaron Jay Kernis; and a duo album with James Ehnes on the viola in Brahms’ two viola sonatas and Schumann’s Märchenbilder (“Fairytales”). Add to that a new release coming out later this season, Brahms’ Complete Violin Sonatas again with 2021 Gramophone of the Year artist James Ehnes.

 

The last few seasons have taken Andrew 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. And after joining James Ehnes to perform the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle within Melbourne, Australia as well as a duo recital in Sydney, Andy stopped by Singapore for a solo recital.

 

Digging back further into Andrew’s discography, his debut solo CD featuring was released to great critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata], 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 Bielawa’s Wait for piano & drone. He has released several award-winning recordings with his longtime recital partner James Ehnes including the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas and the complete works of Béla Bartók for violin and piano.

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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.

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August 2026