“Blending the ‘80s pop I adored as a child with the Classical Minimalism I grew to love.”
Andrew Shapiro is a composer who has taken the ’80s pop music he grew up with (Men at Work, Pet Shop Boys, and Duran Duran) and blended it with the Classical Minimalism he heard early in his career.
After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory, an internship with Philip Glass and time spent with the composer inspired him to realize his own musical sound and to develop his own way of putting his music out into the world.
Using orchestral instruments, glowing synthesizers and solo piano, Andrew’s music rockets forward with an energetic pulse (“Detectors in the Eyes”) or can be intimate, reflective and intelligently soothing (“The High Line at Night”).
His music is heard worldwide on radio, TV, films and commercials, and on concert stages. He has been featured in The New Yorker, ABC News, CNN, The Independent (UK), and Gramophone. One of his more popular tracks, "Mint Green," has over 14 million plays on Pandora.
He was also the subject of a profile in The New York Times entitled "Quarter Pounder With Keys," describing his long-standing Sunday solo piano gig at McDonald's in downtown Manhattan from 2004-2013.
“Very cool music ... I love this piano etude that I’m listening to as I write this ... I’m reminded of bits of [Steve] Reich, [Philip] Glass, Sigur Ros, Cocteau Twins and Radiohead, intertwined with an aching longing and lots of integrity.”
“There’s an interesting subgroup of composers who sing their own songs, blending aspects of art song and pop ... Andrew Shapiro is a notable practitioner.”
“Shapiro’s creation [Quiet Kissing] is dreamy ... the slowly rocking tempo and overlapping, whispery vocal track lull the ear and the mind into a contemplative state I previously thought could only be experienced by actors in independent films.”