Andrew Wainwright is a highly respected composer, arranger, designer and journalist. An award-winning composer, his music is performed internationally by brass bands, orchestras, wind bands and choirs. With over 18 years’ experience as a graphic designer, he has worked with numerous high profile ensembles, composers and soloists. As a journalist he has been Editor of British Bandsman (2018 – 2019) and SA Bandsman (2011 – 2018), and is currently Editor of Brass Band Bridge magazine. He also regularly contributes to the major brass band publications.
In July 2023 Andrew was the winner of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band’s 1st Annual Composition Competition with his piece Fallen Souls. The competition received 105 entries from around the world.
In 2022 Andrew won the inaugural River City Brass Composition Competition with his work Resilience, coming out on top of 67 entries from 14 different countries.
In 2018 he was awarded 1st place in the RWCMD Cory Band Composition Competition with his piece The Spirit of St. Louis, an international contest held by the world’s No. 1 ranked brass band.
In 2017 his composition, Fearless, was voted as the winner of the New York Staff Band’s inaugural international composers’ competition. In the same year he was commissioned to write two pieces by New York Philharmonic Brass for its annual Holiday Brass concert at David Geffen Hall, hosted by Philip Smith and featuring guest soloist Doc Severinsen. Andrew’s music featured three consecutive years in this concert series.
In 2014 his composition, The Smoke that Thunders, was one of five finalists in the Salford International Composers’ Competition. Andrew first received acclaim for his compositional skills when in 1997 he came runner-up in television’s Performance, The Arts Channel’s Young Composer of the Year for Great Britain.
Andrew’s music has been commissioned, performed and recorded throughout the world by bands such as Black Dyke, Canadian Staff, Chicago Staff, Cory, Foden’s, Fairey’s, Grimethorpe Colliery, the International Staff, Melbourne Staff, New York Staff, GUS and Brass Band Aid Celebrity Band; orchestras such as the Elgin Symphony and National Composers Orchestra (USA); and choirs such as the Elgin Master Chorale, Halifax Choral Society, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Exeter Festival Chorus and The International Staff Songsters.
In addition, he has been commissioned to write solos for Beth Malovance, Brett Baker, Elmer Churampi, David Daws, David Childs, Chris Jeans, Craig Lewis, James Fountain, Les Neish, Michael Baker, Owen Farr and Sheona White, as well as several arrangements for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent star Faryl Smith, winner of television’s The Voice (Mexico), Yuliana Martinez, and former BBC Radio 2 Choirgirl of the Year, Lucy Rhodes.
Andrew’s music features on over 20 commercial recordings. In November 2012, a CD of his music was released by Virtuosi GUS Band, featuring Faryl Smith. Entitled Christmas Fantasia – The Music of Andrew Wainwright, it was launched on the Doyen label. His arrangements of several of Karl Jenkins’ major works have garnered critical acclaim, including the hour-long The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace, which Andrew arranged for brass band, choir and organ. It has been performed by numerous groups around the world and a CD was produced of the work in May 2007, followed by a DVD by Black Dyke Band in 2010 of a live performance at Birmingham Symphony Hall.
More recently, Andrew’s arrangement of Jenkins’ Stabat Mater was premièred by Cory Band at the European Brass Band Championships in Montreux, Switzerland and has since been performed by the band at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and broadcast on BBC Radio 2. In November 2014, Grimethorpe Colliery Band premièred Andrew’s arrangement of Jenkins’ Gloria at the Brass in Concert Gala Concert at The Sage Gateshead.
In 2015, Andrew’s composition, Illuminate, was performed at London’s O2 Arena by the Chicago Staff Band as part of The Salvation Army’s Boundless International Congress. In March 2012, Andrew was privileged to be a guest of the New York Staff Band for its 125th Anniversary weekend and was commissioned to write a piece for the occasion, Fanfare & Theme on Before the Throne. Andrew conducted the combined bands of the New York Staff and Future All Stars in the premiere performance.
As a performer, conductor and tutor, Andrew has completed tours to Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, the USA and Zambia. He has played with a number of musical groups including Brass Band Aid Celebrity Band, the Chicago Staff Band, Hendon Band, USA Southern Staff Band and Virtuosi GUS Band, although the highlight of his playing career was performing with World and European Champions, Cory Band, at the Royal Albert Hall. Andrew features as a soloist on Kettering Citadel Band’s CD That’s the Spirit.
Andrew has been responsible for the organisation of a number of charity concerts, in particular the acclaimed Brass for Africa – A Musical Spectacular series, which raised close to £12,000 for various African projects, and Dallas Fort Worth’s annual holiday concert, Christmas with The Salvation Army.
Andrew was the Founder of Dallas Brass Band and served as President between 2017 and 2023. He was Artistic Advisor to The Illinois Brass Band and Composer in Residence to GUS Band for several years. He holds a BA Music Degree from Middlesex University, an HND in Graphic Design from the University of Bedfordshire and a Foundation Studies in Art & Design from Central Saint Martins.
As a journalist, Andrew has conducted interviews with a number of high-profile musicians, including Stephen Bulla, Bruce Broughton, William Broughton, Philip Cobb, Dr. Stephen Cobb, David Daws, Charlie Green, Chris Jaudes and Bramwell Tovey. His interview with Ray Steadman-Allen also features in the composer’s book History, Harmony and Humanity. He is also a featured composer in the book The Golden Pen, by Steef Klepke.
Away from music, Andrew is the co-creator of Arsenal Football Club’s mascot, Gunnersaurus Rex, which makes an appearance at every match at the Emirates Stadium.