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, and Mid-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, his most recent project consisted of working with living composer 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 then took this composition on a small tour of Appalachia and visited different secondary schools in Southwestern Maryland and Northcentral West Virginia. Future collaborations with Michael Kahle include a viola concerto for viola and wind ensemble, and a viola and oboe sonata.  

Andrew earned his undergraduate degree in Instrumental and General Music Education at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. During his undergraduate degree, his major teachers included Dr. Karin Hendricks, Dr. Elias Goldstein, Dr. Katrin Meidell, and Carol Dallinger. Most recently, Andrew earned a master’s degree in viola performance at West Virginia University and studied under Professor Andrea Priester-Houde. Andrew’s current doctorate of musical arts degree is being conducted at the University of Memphis where he is a student of Cerute Quartet violist, Professor Lenny Schranze.

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!