Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Andy Mitchell began playing guitar at age 9, and started his formal training on classical guitar at age 11, studying privately with Frank Koonce, Professor of Music and classical guitar director at Arizona State University. After high school, Andy was accepted into the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University and studied there under a full merit scholarship, earning his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with Nathaniel Gunod and Julian Gray.
Though his focus was on classical guitar performance, Andy began to feel that he wanted to do more with the guitar than perform. He found inspiration and encouragement from his contact with guitarist/composer Andrew York. Despite his degree focus, he was allowed to study composition at Peabody with composer Dr. Chen Yi. He was also encouraged in his composing by Julian Gray and permitted to premier one of his compositions, “March of the Ants,” during his Masters recital.
After graduating early in December of 1996, Andy continued to compose for the guitar and in 1999, recorded his first CD, “Chimaera,” featuring seven of his own compositions. During his performance career, Andy often included his compositions in his concerts, considering his music as a way to reach out to the non-classical community. “I believe there is a great level of interest in the guitar waiting to be discovered in audiences who assume ‘classical’ is something old and archaic,” Andy states, regarding his CD. “I hope that people will see the amazing capability of this instrument and I want to share that through my music.”
Andy has performed with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, the Annapolis Orchestra in Maryland, for the Arizona and Baltimore Classical Guitar Societies, on D.C. public radio, and has toured with vocal artist Steve Green. From 2000 to 2007, Andy played regular concerts across the Mid and North-Eastern U.S. through Artists Representation International. Andy’s works have been peformed internationally, recorded, and aired on public radio stations across the country, including NPR. In 2011, Andy’s composition “Drift” was featured on Valerie Hartzell’s recording, “Ex Tenebris Lux,” by Soundset Recordings, LLC. Valerie also premiered “Anthemusa” in 2013. Andy’s first composition for guitar ensemble, “Outbound Jaunt,” has been performed at the Moores School of Music, the Philadelphia Guitar Society, and other locations by both small guitar ensembles and large guitar orchestras. In 2021, guitarist Matt Palmer premiered Andy’s composition, “Linear Singularity,” in an online concert through the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society. Andy has lectured on composition across the country at various guitar festivals, and has been teaching composition and all levels of the guitar for over 20 years.