Andrew York (born 1958) is an American

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winning

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Biography

York was born in 1958 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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, United States, and grew up in

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. He received degrees from James Madison University in Virginia and the University of Southern California (USC). He studied in Spain, where he met classical guitarist

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

. Williams has performed and recorded compositions by York. In 1989, York released his debut solo album, ''Perfect Sky'' ( Timeless, 1989). He was a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet until 2006. York is the only alumnus in USC's history to have received their Distinguished Alumni Award twice, in 1997 as a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and again in 2003 for his solo music career. He played

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

with the USC Early Music Ensemble. In addition to his solo career, recording and performing his own compositions, York's recent collaborations include projects with Andy Summers, W. A. Mathieu, Dai Kimura, and Mitsuko Kado. York's tour schedule has included concerts in thirty countries. York's compositions and arrangements for guitar have been performed and recorded by guitarists

, Christopher Parkening, Karin Schaupp and

Sharon Isbin Sharon Isbin is an American classical guitarist and the founder and director of the guitar department at the Juilliard School. Personal life and education Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Katherine Brudnoy, an attorney, and ...

Accomplishments

York has over 50 works published for guitar: solo, duo, trio, quartet, and ensemble. He has appeared in three DVDs, has recorded or appeared as soloist on more than ten albums, and has published a three-volume work on jazz for classical guitarists. York has played on ten recordings with the '' Los Angeles Guitar Quartet'', including the Grammy Award-winning '' Guitar Heroes'' (2004). His solo albums include: ''Perfect Sky'' (1986), ''Dénouement'' (1994), ''Into Dark'' (1997), ''California Breeze'' (2006), ''Hauser Sessions'' (2007), ''Yamour'' (2012), ''Home'' (2018) and ''The Equations of Beauty'' (2018). He also released five band tracks, ''Lotus Eaters,'' ''Stratojee'' and ''Land Below Waves'', in 2018, DissFunkShun and Pay the Piper, in 2019, and a number of singles in 2019 and 2020. Andrew York is a member of the

Triple Nine Society The Triple Nine Society (TNS) is an international high-IQ society for adults whose score on a standardised test, standardized test demonstrates an IQ at or above the 99.9th percentile of the human population. The society recognizes scores from ...

and his article ''Bowling Balls and Binary Switches was'' published in their journal ''Vidya'' in December 2016. He became a voting member at the Recording Academy in 2018. Regarding ''Dénouement'', Jim Ferguson stated that the five original suites that make up the recording "demonstrate ork'sexceptional compositional breadth, commanding instrumental abilities, and rich tone. Rife with folk, jazz, and ancient influences, the material ranges from challenging to simple yet highly musical."

Discography

Solo

* ''Perfect Sky'' (1986) * ''Dénouement'' (1994) * ''Into Dark'' (1997) * ''Hauser Sessions'' (2007) * ''Yamour'' (2012) * ''Home'' (2018) * ''The Equations of Beauty'' (2018)

Singles

* "Silent Night" (2019) * "Undercurrents" (2020) * "Deepening" (2020) * "Dancing with Maya" (2020) * "Not Alone" (2020) * "Hall of Forgotten Rooms" (2020) * "Night on Maui" (2020) * "Numen" (2020) * "Lumen" (2020) * "Menhir" (2020) * "Numina" (2020) * "The World Has Changed" (2020) * "Annie's Song" (2020) * "Second Glass" (2020) * "The Dancer" (2021)

Band tracks

*"Lotus Eaters" (2018) *"Stratojee" (2018) *"Land Below Waves" (2018) *"DissFunkShun" (2019) *"Pay the Piper" (2019)

With LAGQ

* ''Guitar Recital'' * ''Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker'' * ''Evening in Granada'' * ''Labyrinth'' * ''For Thy Pleasure'' * ''The Best of LAGQ'' * ''L.A.G.Q.'' * ''Air and Ground'' * ''LAGQ: Latin'' * ''Guitar Heroes'' * ''Spin''

Collaborations and compilations

* ''Windham Hill Records: Guitar Sampler'' (1988) * ''Legends of Guitar'' (Rhino, 1991) * ''An Evening with International Guitar Night'' with Guinga, Brian Gore, and '' Pierre Bensusan'' (Favored Nations, 2004) * ''Centerpeace'' (2010) with guitarist Andy Summers, and pianists Mitsuko Kado and Allaudin Mathieu * "In Dialogue" by Ulli Boegershausen (2019) * "Push It" by Ulli Boegershausen (2020)

DVDs

* ''Contemporary Classic Guitar'' * ''LAGQ Live!'' * ''Primal Twang''

Books

* ''Jazz for Classical Cats I: Harmony'' (method book w/CD) * ''Jazz for Classical Cats II: Chord/Melody'' (method book w/CD) * ''Jazz for Classical Cats III: Improvisation'' (method book w/CD)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Andrew 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers American male classical composers American classical guitarists American male guitarists James Madison University alumni Living people Composers for the classical guitar USC Thornton School of Music alumni 1958 births 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Windham Hill Records artists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Musicians from Atlanta 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians