News

Musicians from the faculty of the University of Illinois, including John Dee (oboe), Ben Roidl-Ward (bassoon), and Casey Robards (piano) will be joined by Wesley Boehm on English horn to premiere this piece at the 2026 International Double Reed Society Conference,  which will be held at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from July 7th-11th, 2026.  It will also be included on a forthcoming album of my music for woodwinds and piano that will be released on Navona Records in 2026.

Available for purchase through Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct.

Andrew Lewinter's Sonatina for Horns was premiered on July 26th at the Musikalischer Sommer Ostfriesland music festival in Germany by German Hornsound (Christoph Ess, Andrés Aragón, Stephan Schottstädt, and Timo Steninger).

"Today we’d like to introduce you to an Oregon composer who’s a little off the–well, he’s not so much off the beaten path as he is on a different beaten path. Where most contemporary composers work in a distinctly contemporary idiom, a soundworld where Stravinsky is considered old hat and socially relevant post-tonal aleatoric graphic scores are all the rage, Andrew Lewinter composes music inspired mainly by Brahms, Bach, and the other “Dead White European Males” that fell out of fashion around the time of the semi-apocryphal Le Sacre riot and–despite the best efforts of Bernstein and an army of eagerly conservative symphony directors–have never completely recovered.

We first heard about Lewinter upon the release of his album Music for Brass and Piano last year. He wasn’t exactly on our radar, but the players on the album are all Oregon Symphony pros–specifically the principals of the legendary OSO brass section (Jeffrey Work, Jeff Garza, Casey Jones, and JáTtik Clark) and that raised an eyebrow–so we looked him up. First result: Andrew Lewinter, Employment Attorney.

​“Employment attorney Andrew Lewinter fights for victims of employment discrimination, retaliation, whistleblowing, and sexual harassment in Eugene, Oregon. Mr. Lewinter advocates for employees in State and Federal courts. Mr. Lewinter also represents individual employees before State and Federal administrative agencies, such as the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). Mr. Lewinter has been an attorney for both public and private sector labor unions in a wide spectrum of fields.”

Um. Right guy? A little more digging: Andrew Lewinter, Composer. Same guy! Far out, man. It’s always fascinating knowing what composers do for a living. Philip Glass famously worked as a plumber, a cabbie, even had a moving company. Andy Akiho was a sushi chef. Charles Ives was an insurance executive. And so on.

Anyways, since “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” we sat and listened to the album–which turned out to be awesome.

Not too many composers do this sort of thing anymore. In the cathedral of Classical Music you get the canonical DWEMs–the Hallowed Three B’s (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms)–but not a lot of serious new music composed in the old style, perhaps slightly updated for modern ears (a chromatic mediant here, an overtone scale there), without the slightest trace of irony or “deconstruction.” Here is a composer, we thought, who really likes this stuff.

So we wrote to Mr. Lewinter and asked him the burning question: why write Romantic music in the 21st century?"

Andrew's latest work, his Trio for Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, and Piano is now available via Sheet Music Plus.

by Huntley Dent, Fanfare Magazine

​"What immediately confronts the listener in Horn Sonata No. 2 are telltale traits that run throughout the collection." "I can almost see him sitting in the orchestra paying close attention to Brahms and Richard Strauss (a hornist’s best friend). This sonata owes the piano part considerably to Brahms and the leaping intervals of the principal theme in the first movement to Strauss."

"All these sonatas follow a traditional slow-fast-slow structure in three movements, the slow movement being a songful melody, the finale a Rondo. Typically, brass sonatas are display pieces, but Lewinter concentrates on lyricism and instrumental color–..."

"I’ve never before encountered a chamber work for piano and three brass instruments (trumpet, French horn, and trombone), which makes Lewinter’s contribution to the genre unique."

"I imagine that brass players who pick up these scores will recognize that the music sits well for their instruments. The performers are all of high caliber, and Navona’s recorded sound is vivid and well balanced. Although this is Lewinter’s first appearance as a composer in Fanfare, I gather that his chamber pieces, which are mostly for brass but also extend to woodwinds and a string quartet, have been gratifyingly popular."

"Four stars: Tuneful, consistently attractive brass music."

​Andrew’s three movement Sonata No. 2 for Horn and Piano is now available for purchase through Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct.

Andrew’s three movement Sonata for Trumpet and Piano is now available for purchase through Sheet Music Plus. 

The New London Chamber Ensemble will perform Woodwind Quintet in London (England) on Sunday, March 5th, 2023 at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, King Charles Court, Old Royal Naval College, London SE10 9JF  (time is TBD).

The concert will have an in-person audience and there will not be an online broadcast. The event will be accompanied by a workshop with students related to the ensemble.