Awarded Best Classical Artist at the 2020 NZ Music Awards, violinist Andrew Beer has been described as a "musical gift" (New York Times), a "virtuoso soloist" (San Francisco Classical Voice) with a “glorious string tone” (Strad magazine). He has performed as a soloist throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia, and as a chamber musician at the Music@Menlo, IMS Prussia Cove, Aspen, Tanglewood, Banff and Orford Festivals, with leading artists including Midori, the Parker String Quartet and Emerson String Quartet.
Andrew has served as Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra since 2014, and has performed as guest Concertmaster with the CBSO (Birmingham), Hallé (Manchester), MSO (Melbourne), ASO (Adelaide), VSO (Vancouver) and NZSO (Wellington). His previous job was Assistant Principal 2nd Violin with the OSM (Montreal), a frequent winner of Grammy and Gramophone awards.
His NZ-premiere performance of the Ligeti Concerto was described as a “consummate performance” and “one of the most exciting things I’ve heard for a while” (RNZ). William Dart (NZ Herald) described him as “a fully validated virtuoso” in his world premiere performance of Gillian Whitehead’s Concerto. Having worked with leading composers including Kurtag, Davidovsky, Reich and Boulez, Andrew has enjoyed exploring the music of NZ's many gifted composers.
Contemporary music plays a large role in Andrew's career, and his debut CD with Sarah Watkins, '11 Frames', features works by 11 of NZ's leading composers won the Best Classical Artist award at the 2020 New Zealand Music Awards.
Andrew performs on an 1845 Vuillaume violin, and an 1880 J.J. Maire bow.
