Andrew Norman
Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio "The Companion Guide to Rome" (2010), was a runner-up for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music. While composer-in-residence for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, he first gained international attention for the orchestral work "Play" (2013), which was nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. He received another Grammy nomination for the orchestral work  Sustain (2018), a commissioned from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Other noted works include the fantasy for piano and orchestra "Split" (2015) and the opera "A Trip to the Moon" (2017). Since 2020, Norman has been on the composition faculty of the Juilliard School. Biography. Norman studied composition at the University of Southern California and Yale University. Much of his music is influenced by architecture and visual arts, in which he has had a lifelong interest. He was composer-in-residence for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project from 2011 to 2013. Among his most notable works are the 2010 string trio  The Companion Guide to Rome, the 2013 symphony "Play", the 2015 fantasy for piano and orchestra "Split," the 2017 opera "A Trip to the Moon," and the 2018 orchestral work "Sustain". His composition "The Companion Guide to Rome" (inspired by the guidebook of the same name written by Georgina Masson) was a runner-up for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music. A recording of "Play" by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project was named one of the best classical music recordings of 2015 by David Allen of "The New York Times" and nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Classical  Contemporary Composition. Norman won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for "Play", which the music writer Will Robin called "the best orchestral work that the 21st century has seen thus far". In reference to the prize, Norman said in an interview with NPR: In 2018, the Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned Norman to write "Sustain" for the beginning of their centennial season. Norman was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Music for the work. In 2020, it won him a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic won the Grammy  Award for Best Orchestral Performance for their 2019 recording of the piece. He was a MacDowell Fellow in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Norman is currently on the composition faculty of the Juilliard School, and is serving as Carnegie Hall's Debs Composer's Chair for the 2020–2021 season. He was previously an Assistant Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music. Andrew Norman is program director of the Nancy and Barry Sanders Youth Composer program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, through which he teaches composition for larger ensembles. His works are published by Schott Music. On  October 31, 2020, 31 members of the Berlin Philharmoniker performed Norman's composition "Sabina" (arranged for string orchestra), described as "a sound painting full of iridescent reflections of light", at the Philharmonie in Berlin. The arrangement was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmoniker Foundation.