At the age of 22, violinist ANDREW SORDS is already a veteran of the concert stage. He is the winner of the 2005 National Shirley Valentin Violin Award, the 2004 and 2005 National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, the Fortnightly Music Club of Cleveland and the Festival de la Orquesta Sinfonica de las Americas Competition of the Casals Festival among others. Mr. Sords has recently toured with the Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky violin concerti to critical acclaim, and has quickly emerged as one of the foremost violinists of his generation.
Born in 1985 in Newark, Delaware, Sords later moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, and began his violin studies with Liza Grossman, the dynamic founder and Conductor of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra with whom he recorded the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 3.
Sords completed his undergraduate education at the Cleveland Institute of Music with violin pedagogues Linda Cerone and David Russell, and performed for the legendary Midori in masterclasses in New York and at the University of Southern California. He continues to meet the demands of a burgeoning solo career which has taken him from American concert halls to venues in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. In the fall of 2007, Sords will pursue an Artist Diploma at Southern Methodist University, studying with internationally acclaimed violinist Chee-Yun.
Sords commissioned a violin concerto from acclaimed composer Evan Fein, which was completed and recorded with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in early 2007. The recording of the concerto is already accumulating awards, and will be performed with the Ashtabula Symphony Orchestra in 2008.
Highlights for the 2007-2008 season include solo appearances with the Carson City Symphony in the Beethoven Violin Concerto under the baton of David Bugli; Mozart's "Turkish" Concerto with the Balcones Chamber Orchestra and Robert Radmer; and works of Saint-Saens and Rachmaninoff with the Rappahannock Pops Orchestra and Kirk Wilke. Reinvited by the Kent State Recital Series, Sords will perform the complete Brahms sonata set with pianist Anita Pontremoli in 2008. Also in 2007-2008, Sords plays recitals in Cleveland, Dallas, Nevada, and Korea.
Notable performances include the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Bowling Green Symphony with David Dettloff; Tchaikovsky Concerto with Maestro Luis Biava conducting at the Plaza de las Americas in San Juan; Chausson's "Poeme" and Tchaikovsky Concerto with Anna Balakerskaia in Holland; Sarasate's "Zigeurerweisen" in the Interlochen Honors Recital Series; and a live broadcast of music innovator George Crumb's "Black Angel's" on Cleveland's WCLV 104.9. Additionally, during the 2006-2007 season, Sords played Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy" with the Diablo Symphony Orchestra and Joyce Johnson-Hamilton; Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky with the Heights Chamber Orchestra and Kelly Corcoran; a live broadcast recital from the Kent State University Recital Series with Christopher Chung; and the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Franck sonata, and Faure Piano Quartet at ENCORE (the summer home of the Cleveland Institute of Music).
Sords attended Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea, studying and performing at Hyo Kang's prestigious festival. He is also acclaimed for his performances with Conductor and Violinist Sidney Harth, Neeme Jarvi, David Lockington, Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Jon Anderson, Graham Nash, the Supremes, and the Cavani String Quartet with whom he performed in the summer of 2003 at the Allegheny Music Festival. Additionally, in 2006, Sords stepped in on twelve hours notice to perform on the Franciscan University Recital Series with pianist Eric Genuis.
Since 2000, Sords and pianist Eriko Izumida have performed regularly as recital collaborators. In the spring of 2004 and 2006, Andrew appeared as a guest artist with Ms. Izumida on the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Recital Series. Anita Pontremoli, head of the Collaborative Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, also serves as a regular recital partner, and the two perform together during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season.
In the last three seasons, he has given performances of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Monti, Mozart, Paganini, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps, Vitali, Vivaldi, Wieniawski, and Ysaye with orchestra and in recital. He has performed in masterclasses with Kyoko Takezawa, Felicia Moye, David Arben, Kyung Sun Lee, Lucie Robert, Julian Ross, members of the Curtis, Miami, American and Cleveland String Quartets and mentored by Charles Rex, Principal Associate Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.
Sords is the featured violinist in a documentary on violin technique. He was honored by Pulitzer Prize nominated Composer Kellach Waddle who dedicated his violin sonata to the young violinist. Sords performs on a 1921 Augustine Talisse violin.
Please visit www.andrewsords.com, the official website of Andrew Sords.
Violinists