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Connect with Your Inner Melody

ANDREW SCHNEIDER

Vocal Coach - Collaborative Pianist - Composer - Conductor

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NOW AVAILABLE!

Featuring Andrew Schneider's Les Exubérants, Op. 11 and Les Enchanteresses Dansantes, Op. 12

PINNACLE VOL. 3
CONTEMPORARY CHAMBER WORKS

Navona Records presents PINNACLE VOL. 3, a collection of contemporary chamber works by composers Alla Elana Cohen, Andrew Schneider, Dušan Bavdek, and Richard E Brown that highlight the melodic, emotive, and dramatic styles offered by today’s chamber music. This diverse assortment of repertoire spans numerous influences and orchestrations, delivering a range of sounds from somber and moving to sprightly and energetic. Leveraging raw thematic material and colorful musical portraits, the composers and performers in this edition of PINNACLE keep the fire burning while bringing a fresh and unique tone to the series.

Musical Notes

BIOGRAPHY

A native of Houston, ANDREW SCHNEIDER is a pianist and vocal coach whose virtuosic technique and interpretative daring has cemented his reputation among clients as a fearless musician. His extensive collaborative activity encompasses early music, standard operatic and art song repertoire, as well as contemporary music. Proficient in Italian, German, French, Latin - and especially adept in less frequently encountered languages, such as Russian - Andrew enjoys using his considerable linguistic skill to help make challenging texts accessible to his clients. Andrew’s wide ranging musical activities also includes harpsichord and organ performance, composition, and conducting.

   Andrew holds a B.Mus., summa cum laude, in music composition from Rice University, and in 2009, was a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition. Since 2012, Andrew has been regularly employed as a church organist around Houston; he has also functioned as a staff accompanist at Lone Star College Kingwood and Houston Community College since 2014. Andrew has frequently played harpsichord continuo, including for Mercury Houston and for period-instrument chamber ensemble La Speranza, as well as with the Lawson Ensemble in Jacksonville, Florida, for performances of Handel’s Messiah and Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers under Cara Tasher. Other ensembles have included the San Antonio Symphony, the Kingwood Chorale, and the Woodlands Chorale. He has also played piano for several chamber and vocal performances with the Texas New Music Ensemble, including in touring performances at SFA University, Nacogdoches.
   

For Mercury Houston, a period instrument ensemble, Andrew regularly plays harpsichord continuo, and has participated in several performances for the Houston Early Music Festival. As a continuo player,  Andrew has also played Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony and the Kingwood Chorale, as well as Haydn’s Creationwith the Woodlands Chorale.
 

More recent highlights have included a summer 2021 concert of Polish vocal and piano music sponsored by the Consulate of the Republic of Poland, Houston, and the kickoff concert of the French Cultures Festival sponsored by the Consulate of the French Republic, Houston.

 

In the field of opera, Andrew has served as music director for a production of Sweeney Todd and has coached Ariadne auf Naxos for the Kingwood Summer Opera. Andrew has also served as music director for Lone Star Lyric Theatre's production of Victor Herbert's Madeleine, and rehearsal pianist for the Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production of A Topsy Turvy Mikado. Other operas Andrew has coached include Rita, L’heure espagnole, L’italiana in Algeri, and La scala di seta and Zanetto for Operativo Houston, as well as Hansel and Gretel. For a 2016 Pittsburgh production, Andrew also coached the leading role in Die schweigsame Frau. Recently, Andrew has worked with HGOco, Houston Grand Opera's community outreach initiative, to assist in coaching singers for performances of Kamala Sankaram's Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, Mary Carol Warwick's Cinderella in Spain and Donizetti's The Elixir of Love.    


In his spare moments, Andrew enjoys history, literature, linguistics, cartography, and mystery novels, all interests upon which he is apt to draw for his renowned store of indelible anecdotes.

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Opera singer

Vocal Coach

Whether his services are needed to assist advanced vocalists in understanding and naturally inhabiting roles from the standard operatic repertoire (and beyond), or whether he might be called upon to help relative vocal beginners navigate standard pieces' common pitfalls, Andrew is entirely at ease in assisting singers, with a particular reputation for being at home with difficult orchestral reductions of many sorts, especially those which are rhythmically complex.

“Singing with Andrew Schneider feels like performing with an orchestra! His attention to detail and virtuosic playing helps enhance my singing and prepare me well for productions.” - Sarah Dyer (mezzo-soprano)

Piano Concert Hall

Collaborative Keyboardist

Andrew is in his element working with several kinds of instruments and voices. With keyboard repertoire ranging from Baroque continuo sonatas and orchestral music (on harpsichord), to Romantic and modern chamber music, to church choir music (on organ, where he takes delight in supporting ensembles in addition to playing solo repertoire), to several world premieres, there is no challenge in this arena that Andrew will not devote all his effort to tackling, in the quest of creating cohesive interpretations of masterworks both well-known and obscure.

"I had the pleasure of collaborating with Andrew during the production of Hansel and Gretel at Opera in the Heights. His meticulous attention to detail allowed me to distinctly hear the various instruments within the orchestra in his playing. Andrew's musicianship is truly exceptional, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside such a remarkable musician."

- Priscilla Salisbury (soprano)

Checking Text on a Document

Composing and Arranging

Andrew delights in writing music in a wide variety of forms and for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal combinations. Through his music, his predilection for meticulous craftsmanship, structural coherence, and the aspects of tradition that have stood the test of time is readily discernible, though not without the occasional touch of spontaneous originality. He especially loves writing music which is satisfying for performers to learn and play, in which the learning curve presents principally those difficulties which merit the adjectives "exigent" and "rewarding."

Conductor's baton on sheet music

Conducting

Andrew devotes a great deal of his energy and times to honing his skills in communicating to ensembles his interpretations of both repertoire music and his own works, especially in the hopes of helping fellow composer colleagues achieve a wider audience. As said in other places on this website, he enjoys a challenge, and welcomes inquiries in this regard from composers who have recently-written ensemble, choral, or orchestral works.

trans-la-tion

Translations

As a linguist by hobby, Andrew is intrigued by the potential uses of his skills in the musical world. He specializes in Romance languages and German, but is always keen to expand his horizons in less frequently encountered tongues. Several of his translations of arias and songs can be seen on Lieder.net.

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Whispering Fragrance

Andrew can be heard on the newly released album Whispering Fragrance, a collection of chamber music by the composer Stephen Yip. Currently available to purchase and stream, Andrew plays piano on the tracks In Seventh Heaven and Tranquility in Consonance.

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As an early endeavour in my journey into appreciation of Slavic languages in my work, I present my newly composed Ave Maria, written to the Polish translation of this prayer. This piece is perfectly singable in Latin also; the music has been specifically designed to work with either. Score available for purchase HERE.

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Soprano Elizabeth Gautsche and collaborative keyboardist Andrew Schneider perform music by Dvorak, Martinu, and Korngold at the Czech Center Museum in Houston, Texas.

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EVENTS

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Texas New Music Ensemble's Composer's Concert

August 16, 2018, 7:30 PM

Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH)

Houston, Texas


Dvorak Piano Trio No. 4

September 28, 2018, 7:30 PM
Clear Lake United Methodist Church
Clear Lake, Texas

Recital with Bass-Baritone Christopher Besch

January 11, 2019, 7:30 PM

Lone Star College

Cyfair, Texas


Performance with La Speranza

January 26, 2019, 7:30 PM

First Evangelical Lutheran Church 

Houston, Texas

A Concert of Texas Composers

February 21, 2019, 6:00 PM

Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches

Nacogdoches, Texas

Performance with the Piping Rock Singers

February 23, 2019, 7:30 PM

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham

Houston, Texas

Performance to include the concert premiere of the motet, "Ego sum panis vivus" composed by Andrew Schneider.

Faculty and Guest Concert of Vocal Selections

February 26, 2019, 7:30 PM

Houston Community College-Stafford

Stafford, Texas

Texas New Music Ensemble Spring Composers Spotlight Concert

March 7, 2019, 7:30 PM
MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston
Houston, Texas

Performance with the Chamber Singers of the University of North Florida

April 6, 2019, 3:00 PM 

St. Paul's by the Sea Episcopal Church 

Jacksonville, Florida

Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers

Andrew Schneider, harpsichord

Faculty Concert

April 8, 2019, 7:00 PM

San Jacinto College-Central Campus

San Jacinto, Texas

Performance of "Afro-American Suite" by Undine Smith Moore

SCI Region VI Conference

April 11, 2019, 7:30 PM

Texas A&M University  

Commerce, Texas

Premiere performance of "Les Exuberants," Op. 11, duo for oboe and clarinet, composed by Andrew Schneider

Selections from the Bruch Eight Pieces

April 22, 2019, 7:15 PM

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, Texas 

Featuring Celeste Markey, clarinet, and Hannah Martineau, viola

Performance with Houston Community College Choir

May 2, 2019, 7:30 PM

Christ Church Cathedral

Houston,TX

Performance of John Rutter's Requiem

Czech Art Songs and Piano Music

May 11, 2019, 7:00 PM

Houston Czech Cultural Center

Houston, Texas

Performance with soprano Elizabeth Gautsche featuring music by Dvorak, Martinu, and Korngold

Performances of Victor Herbert's Madeleine

June 21, 2019, 8:00 PM

June 22, 2019, 8:00 PM

June 23, 2019, 5:00 PM


MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theatre Center Houston

Houston, Texas


Andrew Schneider, Music Director and Accompanist

Texas New Music Ensemble

August 22, 2019, 7:30 PM

Program to include "White Water" for Piano by Stephen Lias and "Alabama and American Sketches III" for Piano Four-Hands by Jefferson Todd Frasier

Opera on Tap

September 7, 2019, 9:00 PM
Notsuch
Houston, Texas

Performance with La Speranza

September 28, 2019, 5:00 PM

First Evangelical Lutheran Church

Houston, Texas

A Concert of Italian Baroque Trio Sonatas

Texas New Music Ensemble Voice Recital

November 7, 2019, 7:30 PM

MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theatre Center Houston

Houston, Texas

With Soprano Julia Fox

Texas New Music Ensemble Voice Recital

November 9, 2019, 1:00 PM

Stephen F. Austin State University, Cole Concert Hall

Nacogdoches, Texas


With Soprano Julia Fox

Performance with the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra

December 14, 2019, 7:30 PM

The Clarion at Brazosport College

Clute, Texas

Opera on Tap: Valentine's Day Show

February 14, 2020, 7:00 PM

Envy Wine Room

Spring, Texas

Andrew Schneider plays with Opera on Tap Houston singers in a program of especially schmaltzy opera selections

Mercury Houston

Schubert's Winterreise

February 15, 2020, 8:00 PM

Wortham Center,

Houston, Texas


Orchestrated for strings by Antoine Plante with stage direction by Denis Plante and featuring tenor Nicholas Phan. Andrew Schneider is the rehearsal pianist for this production

Texas New Music Ensemble: 
Spring 2020 Composer Spotlight Concert

March 20, 2020, 7:00 PM

MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theatre Center

Houston, Texas

Andrew Schneider plays piano on the Peter Lieuwen Rhapsody with Joanna Becker, violin; Peter Lieuwen Bright River with Celeste Markey, clarinet; and Peter Lieuwen Gulfstream with the above players and Ariana Nelson, cello.

Postponed Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Texas New Music Ensemble 
Guest Ensemble at SCI 2020 National Conference

March 27, 2020, 8:00 PM

University of Texas at Arlington

Arlington, Texas

Andrew Schneider plays piano with Texas New Music Ensemble in a program of works for piano trio and various mixed ensembles:


Paul Novak: glimmer songs

Kyong Mee Choi: Rippled Pond

Chin Ting Chan: Icebergs

Jonathan Newmark: Secret Atop the Bluff

Emily Joy Sullivan: Dangerous Curves Ahead

Paul Osterfield: Quicksilver

Sam Wu: Monarch

Luke Dahn: The Impeded Stream is the one that Sings

Ben Robichaux: Innocent Machine

Postponed Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Seven Last Words of Christ by Michael John Trotta
(Live Stream Event)

April 6, 2020, 6:00 PM (CST)
Mary Queen Catholic Church
Friendswood, Texas

Performance of Les Exubérants

April 16, 2020, 7:00 PM

Tarrant County Community College

Fort Worth, Texas

An original composition by Andrew Schneider performed by Celeste Markey, clarinet,

and Audrey Yu, oboe.

Postponed Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society

The Yeomen of the Guard

June 20 and 27, 2020, 7:00 PM

June 21 and 28, 2020, 2:30 PM


Hobby Center, Zilkha Hall

Houston, Texas


Andrew Schneider is rehearsal accompanist for this production

Postponed Due the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bach at The Clarion

Saturday, March 27, 2021, 7:30 PM

The Clarion

Lake Jackson, Texas

Performance with the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra

Polish Song Concert

June 5, 2021, 6:00 PM

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

Houston, Texas

Matilda Smolij, mezzosoprano | Andrew Schneider, piano

Concert of art songs and solo piano music by Chopin, Bacewicz, Karłowicz, Paderewski, and Moniuszko


Sponsored by the Polish Consulate of Houston

Live Stream Available HERE

Pietro Mascagni: Zanetto

Friday, November 5,  2021, 7:30 PM

Garza Studios 

Houston, Texas

Saturday, November 6, 2021, 7:30 PM

Garza Studios 

Houston, Texas


Performances with Operativo Houston

A Cole Porter Valentine’s Soirée
With Pianist Andrew Schneider

Monday, February 14, 2022, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Fratelli's Ristorante

Houston, Texas

With Shannon Zamora

2022 French Cultures Festival Kick-Off Concert: Recital Of French-Language Song

With Theodora Cottarel, Soprano

Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 6:00 PM

University of Houston, Dudley Recital Hall, Moores School of Music

Houston, Texas 


Works by Debussy, Fauré, Satie, Saint-Saëns, Graciane Finzi, Carmen Brouard, and Peter Benoit.


Part of the French Cultures Festival, in conjunction with the Blaffer Art Museum's exhibition, Noctambules, the work of Caroline Mesquita.


Under the auspices of the Consulate General of France in Houston.

Refresh: The Joy Of The Classical Arts
A Concert Presented By City Church
Arts Alliance

March 23, 2022, 7:00 PM

Match | Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston

Houston, Texas

Featuring Andrew Schneider, Sarah Langbein Lee, and Zachary Barba
in Benjamin Britten's Canticle II, Op. 51: "Abraham and Isaac"

More Information HERE

World Premiere Opera Commission
"Happy Endings"

Friday, June 24, 2022, 8:00 PM

Saturday, June 25, 2022, 8:00 PM

Sunday, June 26, 2022, 5:00 PM

Match | Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston

Houston, Texas

Lone Star Lyric presents, "Happy Endings" - a Ludicrous Singspiel in One Scene by

Kelli Estes and Andrew Schneider

Texas New Music Ensemble 

Spring Concert 

Featuring Andrew Schneider’s Les Exubérants, Op.11

Thursday, March 23, 2023, 7:00 PM 

(with open rehearsal March 22, 2023 from 5-9 PM)

Archway Gallery

Houston, Texas

Reserve Seats HERE

Houston Gilbert And Sullivan Society

- Hms Pinafore -


Saturday, July 23, 2022, 8:00 PM 

Sunday July 24, 2022, 2:30 PM 

Saturday July 30, 8:00 PM

Sunday July 31, 2:30 PM


Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

Houston, Texas

Zelda Presents: Mendelssohn and Schneider

Saturday, September 3, 2022, 7:00 PM

Garza Studios, Room 5

Houston, Texas

Performance Featuring: 

Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49

Andrew Schneider: String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 13


Andrew Schneider, piano

Zelda Gray, violin

Kevin Hwang, violin

Merit Rogge, viola

Vyacheslav Dobrushkin, cello

OPERA IN THE HEIGHTS PERFORMANCE OF RIGOLETTO

Rehearsal Pianist
March 25, 2023 - April 2, 2023

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
"SEEKING FREEDOM"

Sunday, April 16, 2023, 2:00 PM
Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church (Parish Hall)
Houston, Texas

CARL ORFF: CARMINA BURANA

Saturday, April 22, 2023, 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 23, 2023, 3:00 PM

Kingwood High School

Kingwood, Texas

 

Performance with Kingwood Chorale

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
"A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO ST. JOHN PAUL II OF POLISH MUSIC AND POETRY"

Thursday, May 18th, 2023, 7:00 PM

Cullen Hall, University of St. Thomas

Houston, Texas

Sponsored by the Saint John Paul II Institute 

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
"SEEKING FREEDOM"

June 6, 2023, 7:30 PM
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Lake Charles, Lousianna

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

(Rehearsal Pianist)

July 22-30, 2023

Hobby Center

Houston, Texas

A Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society Production

Conducted by Eiki Isomura

PERFORMANCE OF ANDREW SCHNEIDER'S POLISH LANGUAGE SETTING OF THE "AVE MARIA"

July 28, 2023, 7:30 PM

Steinway Piano Gallery 

Troy, Michigan

Performance by soprano Dorothy Gal and pianist Jaroslaw Golembiowski as part of the American Council for Polish Culture Conference

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
“SHADOWS OF WAR, WHISPERS OF LOVE”

September 30, 2023, 7:30 PM
University of Saint Thomas
Houston, Texas

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
“TRANSCENDING STRUGGLE”

November 12, 2023, 6:00 PM 

Memorial Classical Concert Series

Private Residence, Houston, Texas

Featuring the Cesar Franck Sonata, and music by Ernest Bloch, John Williams, Reza Vali, Arvo Pärt, and Max Richter

OPERA IN THE HEIGHTS

HUMPERDINCK’S HANSEL AND GRETEL

December 1st, 3rd, 8th, and 9th, 2023, various times
Lambert hall
Houston, Texas

(Rehearsal Pianist)

SOMETHIN' ELS
A VIOLA RECITAL WITH HANNAH MARTINEAU

March 5, 2024, 7:00 PM 

Van Cliburn Concert Hall

TCU School of Music

Fort Worth, Texas

Featuring the world premiere of Hannah Martineau's arrangement of the legendary Miles Davis recording of "Autumn Leaves" and a performance of Andrew Schneider's setting of "Ave Maria"

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
"POLISH CULTURE AND NATURE IN POETRY AND MUSIC"

March 21, 2024, 6:30 PM

Cullen Hall, University of St. Thomas

Houston, Texas

Presented by St. John Paul II Institute

OPERA IN THE HEIGHTS
PUCCINI'S LA BOHÉME

April 5-13, 2024, various times
Lambert Hall
Houston, Texas

(Rehearsal Pianist)

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE

May 10, 2024, 6:30 PM

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Roman Catholic Church

Houston, Texas

 

Sponsored by

the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland

DUO DRAMATIQUE 

DOMINIKA DANCEWICZ, violin

ANDREW SCHNEIDER, piano and organ

AN EVENING OF CABARET

June 15, 2024, 6:30 PM

Houston Saengerhalle 

Houston, Texas

Starring Sarah Dyer

And featuring the Houston Saengerbund Singers and Cirque la Vie & ConTempo

PERFORMANCE WITH DUO DRAMATIQUE
This Stabbing Shard

September 14, 2024, 7:30 PM

University of St. Thomas 

Houston, Texas

and

October 8, 2024, 7:30 PM

Lone Star College

Cyfair, Texas

A multimedia concert with poetry readings and music by William Grant Still, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Janáček, and Erberk Eryılmaz

 

Sponsored by a grant from the Make Creativity Happen initiative from the City of Houston. 

OPERA IN THE HEIGHTS
DONIZETTI’S LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

September 20-28, 2024, various times
Lambert Hall
Houston, Texas

(Rehearsal Pianist)

AN EVENING OF CHAMBER MUSIC
FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

October 19, 2024 | 7:00 PM

First Congregational Church of Houston

Houston, Texas

Performance with Joanna Becker, violin

HOUSTON POLISH FILM FESTIVAL 2024
OPENING GALA CONCERT WITH BASS RAFAŁ SIWEK

October 31, 2024 | 6:00 PM

Cullen Hall, University of St. Thomas

Houston, Texas

RHAPSODE GUILD IN CONCERT 
"HARDER THAN CONFESSION"

November 11, 2024 | 7:30 PM

The Houston Saengerbund Saengerhalle

Houston, Texas

Performance with Mikhail Smigelski, Isabelle Ganz, and Sarah Dyer

OPERA IN THE HEIGHTS
RACHEL PORTMAN'S THE LITTLE PRINCE

December 6-15, 2024, various times

Lambert Hall

Houston, Texas

 

(Rehearsal Pianist)

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