Full Bio

The music of Andrew Boss is widely acclaimed for expressing its creative voice, offering captivated listeners “something that has never been heard before.” (Florida Music Teachers Association). His musical language is encapsulated in a “vividly spiced language” (Baltimore Sun). Residing in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Andrew is currently completing several upcoming commissions and is teaching private music theory and composition.

Andrew has enjoyed many world premieres by the world’s leading ensembles. The premiere of his first symphony, Tetelestai (2014), by the University of Texas (UT) Wind Ensemble under Jerry Junkin was a considerable success. It shortly followed with its Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference premiere in September 2016 by the Sydney Conservatory Wind Ensemble under John Lynch. He has also enjoyed a critically-acclaimed world premiere of his Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Small Chamber Orchestra (2015) by Baltimore-based chamber orchestra, Symphony Number One, and is considered as one of their founding composers. Most recently, Andrew enjoyed a world premiere of his large-scale organ symphony, In Adventu Finalem, by the Dallas Winds. He has enjoyed performances from musicians and conductors such as Gary Green, Mallory Thompson, Robert Carnochan, Jordan Smith, Sean Meyers, Jeff Ball, Nathan Mertens, and many others.

            Andrew has been the recipient of many honors in his young career as a composer, including recently the 2017 FSMTA Commissioned Composer Fund. He has been invited to numerous residencies that featured his music, including his 2017 premiere of Moments of Silence, a work dedicated to the victims of the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, at the San Bernardino County Music Educators Association. He has been a part of several notable festivals, including the 2013 Norfolk and Bowdoin Music Festivals. He has also served as an assistant representative on behalf of UT at the Texas Music Educators Association Recruitment Fair in 2016, as well as the program director for the New Music Conflagration (NMC) for their first concert series in 2013-14.

            Andrew completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) as the 2013-14 Recruitment Fellow under the tutelage of Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, and Russell Pinkston. He received his Master of Music in Composition in 2013 under the tutelage of Dr. Kevin Puts at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance at Florida Southern College with Robert MacDonald. He began piano lessons at the age of eight in the studio of Mary Beth Purchase. While in high school, he began composition lessons with Donald Waxman.

In addition to composing, Andrew is active as a pianist, conductor, and educator. As a pianist, he performs as a soloist and an accompanist, often, but not limited to, his own music. As a conductor, as well as composer-in-residence, Andrew conducted a la Machaut with the Washington State Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, WA (November 2016). As an educator, he taught Music Theory classes as an Assistant Instructor during his studies at UT. He currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Florida Atlantic University.