Andrew Norman

About Andrew Norman

Among the most talented and original of young American composers...master of a uniquely dazzling and mercurial style. – The New Yorker

Andrew Norman (b. 1979) is a Los Angeles-based composer and educator.  Praised as “the leading American composer of his generation” by the Los Angeles Times, and “one of the most gifted and respected composers of his generation” by The New York Times, Andrew has established himself as a significant voice in American classical music.

Norman's work draws on an eclectic mix of sounds and notational practices from both the avant-garde and classical traditions. He is increasingly interested in story-telling in music, and specifically in the ways non-linear, narrative-scrambling techniques from other time-based media like movies and video games might intersect with traditional symphonic forms. His distinctive, often fragmented and highly energetic voice has been cited in The New York Times for its “daring juxtapositions and dazzling colors,” in the Boston Globe for its “staggering imagination,” and in the Los Angeles Times for its “audacious” spirit and “Chaplinesque” wit.

Andrew Norman has written for leading ensembles worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the BBC, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Melbourne Symphonies, the Orpheus, Saint Paul, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchester, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, and many others. His music has been championed by some of classical music’s eminent conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Rattle, Kirill Petrenko, Klaus Mäkelä, Dalia Stasevska, John Adams, and David Robertson.

In recent seasons, Norman's chamber music has been featured at the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Wordless Music Series, the CONTACT! series, the Ojai Festival, the MATA Festival, the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, the Green Umbrella series, the Monday Evening Concerts, and the Aspen Music Festival. In May of 2010, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble presented a portrait concert of Norman's music entitled “Melting Architecture.”  Andrew Norman has written two piano concertos, Suspend, for Emanuel Ax, and Split, for Jeffrey Kahane, as well as a percussion concerto, Switch, for Colin Currie. Recent projects include collaborations with Jeremy Denk, Jennifer Koh, and eighth blackbird. In the 2016/17 season, Norman’s children’s opera, A Trip to the Moon was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.  A chamber version of A Trip to the Moon was commissioned and premiered by Hamburgische Staatsoper in February 2023 and another chamber version of the opera will be premiered by Garsington Opera in July 2024. Led by George Benjamin, the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra and soloist Jörgen van Rijen will premiere Andrew Norman’s trombone concerto in September 2024, followed by performances of the work from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Aziz Shokhakimov, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Gemma New. Additionally, HUB New Music will premiere a new work by Norman at Yale University and NYC’s Merkin Hall in December 2024.

Norman is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the 2004 Jacob Druckman Prize, the 2005 ASCAP Nissim and Leo Kaplan Prizes, the 2006 Rome Prize, the 2009 Berlin Prize, a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2017 Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was named Musical America's 2017 Composer of the Year. He joined the roster of Young Concert Artists as Composer-in-Residence in 2008 and held the title “Komponist für Heidelberg” for the 2010-2011 season. Andrew Norman has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, he was Musical America’s 2017 Composer of the Year,  and he has won the Grawemeyer Award, the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.  Andrew has served as Composer in Residence with Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Opera Philadelphia,.  His large-scale orchestral work Play was described in the New York Times as a “breathtaking masterpiece,” and “a revolution in music.”  His most recent orchestral work, Sustain, was lauded as “a new American masterpiece” by the New Yorker and earned Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic a Grammy for their Deutsche Grammophon recording.

Andrew Norman is a committed educator who enjoys helping people of all ages explore and create music. He has taught at The Juilliard School and is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California. Andrew is thrilled to serve as the director of the L.A. Phil’s Composer Fellowship Program for high school composers. 

His music is published exclusively worldwide by Schott Music.