Norman, Andrew

American composer, born in 1979 in Minnesota. He lives in Los Angeles. He obtained a BA and MA from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. He has also graduated from the class of Aaron Jay Kernis at the Yale School of Music. 

His work draws on an eclectic mix of sounds and notational practices from both the avant-garde and classical traditions. He is increasingly interested in story-telling in music, and specifically in the ways non-linear, narrative-scrambling techniques from other time-based media like movies and video games might intersect with traditional symphonic forms. His symphony works have been performed by leading ensembles worldwide, including the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, the BBC, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Melbourne symphonies, the Orpheus, Saint Paul, and Los Angeles chamber orchestras, Tonhalle, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre National de France, and many others. His music has been championed by some of classical music’s eminent conductors, including John Adams, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Robertson. 

In recent seasons, Andrew’s chamber music has been featured at the Bang on a Can Marathon, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Wordless Music Series, CONTACT! series, Ojai Festival, MATA Festival, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Green Umbrella series, Monday Evening Concerts, and Aspen Music Festival. In May of 2010, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble presented a portrait concert of Andrew’s music entitled Melting Architecture. 

He was named Musical America’s 2017 Composer of the Year. He is the recipient of the Jacob Druckman Prize (2004), ASCAP Nissim and Leo Kaplan Prizes (2005), Rome Prize (2006), Berlin Prize (2009), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2016). He joined the roster of Young Concert Artists as Composer in Residence in 2008 and held the title Komponist für Heidelberg for the 2010/11 season. He has served as Composer in Residence with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Opera Philadelphia, and he currently holds that post with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. His string trio The Companion Guide to Rome was named a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and his large-scale orchestral work Play won the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2017. 

Andrew Norman is also a committed educator who enjoys helping people of all ages explore and create music. He joined the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in 2013, and is the director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program for high school composers. 

He recently finished two piano concertos, Suspendfor Emanuel Ax and Split for Jeffrey Kahane, as well as a percussion concerto, Switch, for Colin Currie. In the 2016/17 season, his new children’s opera was premiered by Sir Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. 

Selected works: Light Screens for flute, violin, viola and cello (2002),Sacred Geometry for orchestra (2003–4), Farnsworth: Four Portraits of a House for four clarinets, flute, violin, piano and percussion (2003), Gran Turismo For Eight Virtuoso Violinists (2004), Drip Blip Sparkle Spin Glint Glide Glow Float Flop Chop Pop Shatter Splash for orchestra (2005), Garden of Follies for alto saxophone and piano (2006), Lullaby for mezzo-soprano and piano (2007), Unstuck for orchestra (2008, rev. for chamber ensemble, 2011), Sabina for viola / violin (2008–9), The Great Swiftness for orchestra (2010), Don’t Even Listen for voice and piano (2010), The Companion Guide to Rome, collection of works for violin, viola and cello (2010), An Index of Peculiar Strokes for string quartet (2011), Try for chamber orchestra (2011),In Transition for chamber ensemble (2012), Music in Circles III for chamber orchestra (2013), Play: Levels 1, 2 and 3 for orchestra (2013, rev. 2016), Suspend, fantasy for piano and orchestra (2014), Meme for chamber ensemble (2014), Frank’s House for two pianists and two percussionists (2015), Split for piano and orchestra (2015), Switch for percussion and orchestra (2014–15), Jasper String Quartet Stop Motion for string quartet (2015), Still Life for violin (2016), Bridging for violin and piano (2016), For Ashley for cello (2016), A Trip to the Moon, opera for people of any age (2017).