Colin ANDREWS, organ

“...Colin Andrews showed distinction as a Bach player.” London review of performance at Royal Festival Hall
“Andrews is good at establishing atmosphere.”
 

The Gramophone

Since his debut at age eighteen, Colin Andrews has been recognized as a musician of great versatility, power and artistry. Born in Bristol, England, Andrews initially studied organ with Garth Benson of St. Mary Redcliffe Church. At sixteen, he entered London’s Royal Academy of Music for four years of organ and piano study under principal professors Douglas Hawkridge and Margaret McDonald. He later moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he was a student of Professor Lionel Rogg. Following his return to Britain he studied privately for two years with Dame Gillian Weir.

Colin Andrews has been the recipient of many awards; most notably, he was a prizewinner at both the 1980 and 1982 Dublin International Organ Competitions in Ireland, and, in 1993, The Royal Academy of Music, London, bestowed an Associateship upon him in recognition of his distinguished performing career.

Mr. Andrews has toured worldwide both as a solo recitalist and in solo and ensemble concerts with his wife, American organist Janette Fishell. He has appeared at a number of the world’s most prestigious venues including the Royal Festival Hall, London; King’s College, Cambridge; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; Hong Kong Cultural Center; The Moscow Conservatoire; the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris; the National Conventions of the NZAO and the American Guild of Organists; Yale, Duke and Stanford Universities, plus leading halls and cathedrals in Taiwan, South America, Iceland, Finland, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa and most of Eastern and Western Europe. Future engagements include concert tours of Asia, Europe and numerous engagements in the US.

In addition to his recitals, Colin Andrews is an active teacher and lecturer, and has given presentations at, among other venues, the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest; Taiwan Theological College; Pipe Organ Encounter, Pittsburgh; Oundle Summer School for Young Organists, Oundle, UK; Emory University; and at the 1998 AGO National Convention. He has recorded 20 broadcasts for the BBC and has appeared on local and national television and radio in Russia, Poland, the UK, Japan and New Zealand. Commercial compact discs are available on the Priory and Zig Zag labels.

Colin Andrews has served as a jury member for the International Organ Competition at the University of Michigan and for both the 1995 and 1997 J.P. Sweelinck Competitions, Gdansk, Poland. He has also served as a national councilor and local President of the I.A.O., UK and currently serves as Organist/Master of the Choristers at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, USA, his country of residence. In the summer of 2004, he led the choir of St. Stephen’s in their first international concert tour, conducting concerts in the cathedrals of Wells, Bristol and St. David’s, UK.

Colin Andrews’s students have distinguished themselves in competitions at both the national and international level and have been accepted by the major organ programs in the United States. During the 2000/2001 academic year Mr. Andrews was Visiting Lecturer in Organ and Sacred Music at East Carolina University, fulfilling all teaching duties and was appointed to the faculty in 2005. In May 2008, he was appointed interim Director of Organ and Sacred Music Studies at East Carolina University.