Colin Andrews

Born in Bristol, England, Colin Andrews initially studied organ with Garth Benson of St. Mary Redcliffe Church. At sixteen, he entered London’s Royal Academy of Music for four years of organ and piano study under principal professors Douglas Hawkridge and Margaret McDonald. He later moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he was a student of Professor Lionel Rogg. Following his return to Britain he studied privately for two years with Dame Gillian Weir.

Colin Andrews has been the recipient of many awards; most notably, he was a prizewinner at both the 1980 and 1982 Dublin International Organ Competitions in Ireland, and, in 1993, The Royal Academy of Music, London, bestowed an Associateship upon him in recognition of his distinguished performing career. Mr. Andrews has toured worldwide both as a solo recitalist and in solo and ensemble concerts with his wife, American organist Janette Fishell. He has appeared at a number of the world’s most prestigious venues including the Royal Festival Hall, London; King’s College, Cambridge; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; Hong Kong Cultural Center; The Moscow Conservatoire; the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris; the National Conventions of the NZAO and the American Guild of Organists; Yale, Duke and Stanford Universities, plus leading halls and cathedrals in Taiwan, South America, Iceland, Finland, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa and most of Eastern and Western Europe. Future engagements include concert tours of Asia, Europe and numerous engagements in the US.

In addition to his recitals, Colin Andrews is an active teacher and lecturer, and has given presentations at, among other venues, the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest; Taiwan Theological College; Pipe Organ Encounter, Pittsburgh; Oundle Summer School for Young Organists, Oundle, UK; Emory University; and at the 1998 AGO National Convention. He has recorded 20 broadcasts for the BBC and has appeared on local and national television and radio in Russia, Poland, the UK, Japan and New Zealand. Commercial compact discs are available on the Priory and Zig Zag labels. Colin Andrews has served as a jury member for the International Organ Competition at the University of Michigan and for both the 1995 and 1997 J.P. Sweelinck Competitions, Gdansk, Poland.  He has also served as a national councilor and local President of the I.A.O., UK.

During the 2000/2001 academic year Mr. Andrews was Visiting Lecturer in Organ and Sacred Music at East Carolina University.  His students have distinguished themselves at the national and international levels of the competition circuit and have been accepted by all of the major organ programs in the US. In the fall of 2005 he joined his wife on the East Carolina faculty when he resumed Lecturer status, teaching in the areas of Applied Organ and Organ Literature.   During the 2008-2009 academic year, Andrews was Interim Director of Organ and Sacred Music Studies at East Carolina University. In the fall of 2009, he will teach History of Organ Literature and Organ Pedagogy at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.