ANDREW J. ROBERTS BIO

Andrew Roberts was awarded the Willa Taylor Undergraduate Choral Conducting Scholarship while studying to become a music educator at Penn State. Since then, Andrew has taught band, choir, general music, and private lessons to a diverse group of students ranging from Kindergarten to the undergraduate level. Andrew’s interests in both the trombone and the human voice drew him to a multifaceted view of music where neither one could exist without the other. As a result, Andrew has had the privilege of teaching voice to young middle school boys in the middle of male changing voice, recorder to eager second graders, clarinet to struggling fourth graders, general music to bright seventh graders, choral music to gifted high school singers, and basic brass methods to undergraduate music education majors. The adaptability Andrew has gained from teaching such a varied student body has made him a versatile teacher in many musical settings.

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As a performer, Andrew has also approached musicianship liberally as he has performed in a myriad of ensembles from different musical genres such as wind ensembles, orchestras, choirs, brass quintets, jazz ensembles, and trombone choirs. Domestically, Andrew just finished his third season as a member of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem with whom he has performed major choral works including Bach’s Mass in B minor. In addition to public performances with the Bach Choir, Andrew participated in a recording project of J.S. Bach’s Cantata 21 and Handel’s Ode to St. Cecelia’s Daycelebrating the ensemble’s one hundred and twentieth year of existence. As an international performer, Andrew acted as principal trombonist in the University of Delaware Wind Ensemble during their tour to the Taiwan Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference in Taipei, Taiwan. During this tour, Andrew had the distinct opportunity of performing with the first American wind ensemble in Taiwan as well as working with the world-renown composer Johann De Meij.

In addition to Andrew’s performance career in ensembles, he has performed a mixture of solo repertoire on both trombone and voice. Andrew has performed two full-length solo recitals works by composers of varying time periods including Appermont, Bozza, Casterede, Ewazen, Handel, Jacob TV, Pryor, Rota, and Tomasi, and Wagenseil. He has appeared as a guest soloist with Nazareth Community Band. Andrew’s solo performance experience also extends to various master classes of which he has participated. Most notably, Andrew was honored to have won an audition to play in a master class with Joe Alessi of the New York Philharmonic. Other notable engagements include master classes at the Cleveland Trombone Seminar with Shachar Israel of the Cleveland Orchestra and Haim Avitsur.

Andrew currently teaches general music and choirs at Wind Gap Middle School in the Pen Argyl Area School District. He has a Master of Music degree from the University of Delaware with a focus in trombone performance and a Bachelor of Music Education from Penn State where his focus was high school choral and general music under Dr. Anthony Leach. Andrew has studied trombone under Dr. Bruce Tychinski and Mr. Mark Lusk. His mentors and conductors in voice include Dr. Paul Head, Dr. Anthony Leach, Dr. Christopher Kiver, Dr. Lynn Drafall, and Mrs. Jayne Glocke.