About

Just as comfortable conducting an orchestra, performing on stage, or in a biology classroom; Andrew S. McGuire is a multifaceted educator and musician whose experiences have led him to teach and perform throughout the Midwest, Appalachia, Mid-South, and South. 

Throughout his career as an educator, Andrew’s orchestras consistently earn top ranks at organizational festivals and contests, and his students have gone on to earn leadership roles in All-State and university orchestral positions. His students have been featured throughout the state of Indiana as guests for known figures and institutions such as Ball State University's High School Orchestra Invitational, Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb, Indianapolis’ Mayor Joe Hogsett, Miss America 2016, the American Pianists’ Association, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, a clinic with Time for Three, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and Evansville’s Mesker Park Zoo. 

As a violist, Andrew regularly maintains a schedule of engagements with professional orchestras locally and regionally. He has had the chance to perform and collaborate with known musicians such as Andre Watts with the University of Evansville Symphony Orchestra, Ben Folds with the Elkhart Symphony Orchestra, Rachel Barton Pine as a lecturing guest with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, and Alexander Hersch with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Andrew has participated in masterclasses with world-renowned teachers such as James Dunham of Rice University, David Rose of Fredonia State University in New York, and Michael Hall of the VanderCook College of Music. 

A proponent for new music, a recent project consisted of working with living composer Dr. Michael Kahle and the new music trio, Transcription, on premiering a three-movement work for flute, vibraphone, and viola entitled, “We Are The Stories We’ve Been Told.” Advocates for music education, the trio took this composition on a small tour of Appalachia and visited different secondary schools in Southwestern Maryland and Northcentral West Virginia. Further working together, Michael and Andrew have written and commissioned a Sonata for Viola and Oboe in addition to a Conceto for Viola and Wind Ensemble. 

Andrew earned his bachelor of science degree in Instrumental and General Music Education at Ball State University in Muncie, IN; and a master of music in viola performance from West Virginia University. During his academic tenure, his major teachers have included Dr. Karin Hendricks, Dr. Elias Goldstein, Dr. Katrin Meidell, Professor Emeritus Carol Dallinger, and Professor Andrea Houde. Most recently, Andrew earned a doctor of music arts in viola performance at at the University of Memphis where he was a student of Cerute Quartet violist, Professor Lenny Schranze; and a secondary student of Professor of Bands Dr. Albert Nguyen (with whom he studied wind conducting). Andrew's doctoral dissertation is available to the public and is titled, "Works by Michael Kahle; Expanding the Viola's Role WIthin the Classical Music Canon." The work focuses on taking qualities of the viola that many people throughout history have deemed as "undesirable" and spins those qualities into ways of highlighting the viola in "non-traditional" ensemble arrangements. 

Currently Andrew serves as the Director of Orchestras at the Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts in Columbus, Georgia. When not making music, Andrew can be found engrossed in conservation education efforts. Feel free to ask him how many neck vertebrae a giraffe has, or what it is like teaching biology at the collegiate level!