"Dressed in a scarlet red, open-neck shirt and black vest, the tall and slender Sords appeared ready to hit the dance floor...but as soon as he started to play, you knew you were in for a musical treat."
- Windsor Star
“Sords demonstrated what it means to be an artist, pairing maximum delicacy with fire and brilliance,” hailed Guatemala City’s Prensa Libre. Violinist ANDREW SORDS has earned acclaim for performances distinguished by commanding virtuosity, individuality, and uncommon expressive depth. The Arizona Sun praised his “flawless performance”, citing his “mastery of his instrument” alongside “maturity and sensitivity,” while the Palm Springs Desert Sun called his playing “melodious, resonant, expressive, and passionate. The audience could not stop applauding”.
ClevelandClassical.com singled out Sords’s performance of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata as “the stunner of the afternoon - a breathless but magnificently controlled performance, which Sords charged through with giddy aplomb,” praising his “total command of technique, consummate musicianship and bravura” and observing that he and pianist Eriko Izumida “kept the audience in the palm of their hands all afternoon.”
An artist of international reach, Sords has appeared with acclaimed orchestras and on distinguished recital series throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, touring in nearly all 50 states as well as dozens of performances in both Canada and Mexico. His performances have reached millions through prominent profiles and broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition, Sirius XM’s The Derek and Romaine Show, Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, Interlochen Public Radio, London’s The Times, Queerty Blog, and OUT Magazine, introducing his artistry to audiences well beyond the traditional classical music sphere. In addition to appearing on the year-end New Age Charts, Sords has made history as the first classical artist to both headline a USA Pride Festival and to appear as soloist with all of America’s LGBT orchestras.
Andrew Sords maintains an extensive international career. Recent appearances include the Traverse City Philharmonic, Greensboro Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, Signature Symphony, and Toronto’s Glenn Gould Theatre, where he has performed works including the Bruch Scottish Fantasy, Elgar concerto, and Dvorak concerto. In recital, Sords has appeared at Pasadena’s Boston Court Theater, the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, the Palm Springs Concert Series, Augusta’s “Tuesday’s Live”, Harrisburg’s “Arts on the Square”, the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga, Québec’s Hudson Série de Musique Chambre, and La Société de Musique du Lakeshore. His longstanding relationships with numerous Canadian series includes Quebec City, Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa, Kelowna, and the Yukon Territory, as well as concerto appearances with the Toronto Philharmonia and Mississauga Symphony.
Sords’s orchestral repertoire encompasses both celebrated masterworks and rarely performed concerti, including the Brahms double, Beethoven Triple, Strauss, Scottish Fantasy, Sibelius, Arensky, and Corigliano’s Red Violin Chaconne. He has collaborated with orchestras including the Oakland Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Minnesota Philharmonic, Juneau Symphony, and the Peninsula Symphony. Notable chamber music partnerships include Elizabeth DeMio, John Walz, Cheryl Duvall, Mari Sato, Timothy Durkovic, and Eriko Izumida.
During the pandemic, Sords returned to Mexico’s San Miguel de Allende ProMusica Series, reprised the Brahms sonata cycle at Cleveland’s Trinity Concert Series (a collaboration aired a decade before with Elizabeth DeMio), and made his Ravinia Festival début with pianist Daniel Overly (aired concurrently with a profile on the duo by Chicago’s WFMT). With concert dates on 3 continents during the 2019/20 season, Andrew Sords toured extensively with works by Beethoven: the sonata and piano trio cycles, the Triple Concerto, and the Violin Concerto in celebration of the composer’s 250th anniversary. Sords returned to the Peninsula Symphony, the North State Symphony, and the Juneau Symphony; he paired Corigliano's "Red Violin Chaconne" and Paganini's "La Campanella" with the Longwood Symphony; and presented masterclasses at the University of British Columbia, Converse College, and Idyllwild Music School. The same year, Sords made his British Columbia début with a comprehensive tour including the North Okanagan Concert Association, the Kelowna Concert Association, and the Evergreen Concert Series (Vancouver) - heralded by stellar reviews. A highlight of 2020: Sords partnered with Daniel Singer to release sleek, contemporary editions of works by Mozart, Hubay, Haydn, Ysaÿe, Sibelius, and others, available from Green Point Editions and Groth Music.
Sords has appeared with the Greensboro Symphony, El Paso Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, Brevard Symphony, Pueblo Symphony, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Southeastern Ohio Symphony, Des Moines Orchestra, Grand Junction Symphony, Durham Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Vallarta, Longmont Symphony, Guatemala’s “Festival Bravissimo”, Oakland Symphony, Butler Philharmonic, Windsor Symphony, Motor City Symphony, Kalisz Philharmonic (Poland), Vicente Chamber Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, Gulf Coast Symphony, Melbourne Chamber Symphony, and a UK debut with concerts in Edinburgh and Scotland - Tchaikovsky’s concerto with the Glasgow Philharmonia (“Adding Strings to his bow”, London Times). In his hometown, Cleveland collaborations have included the Cleveland Philharmonic, Solon Philharmonic, Perrysburg Symphony, Snowbelt Symphony, Euclid Symphony, Parma Symphony, Shaker Heights Symphony, Heights Chamber Orchestra, Lakeland Orchestra, Earth and Air String Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony, and the Brahms and Schumann sonata cycles for the Cathedral Concert Series. Sords’ July 4th outdoor appearances have included shows with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and an audience of 30,000, while a 2018 collaboration with the El Paso Symphony had 15,000 onlookers - both evenings featured the Tchaikovsky concerto. No stranger to presenting obscure concerti, a debut with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the Arensky concerto had Opus Colorado declaring: “[Sords’] remarkably flexible bow arm and relaxed left hand created the impression that he was having no difficulty whatsoever”.
As a prolific recitalist, Sords has appeared in La Jolla, Washington, D.C., Maui, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and at St. Augustine’s (FL) EMMA Series at Flagler College. Sords has toured to Australia with concerti by Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Vaughan-Williams, as well as virtuoso programs for the Brunswick Beethoven Festival and the Arden Crescent Series. The Brahms “Double” concerto has been a popular vehicle of late: Sords has been featured with cellists John Walz, Joseph Johnson, Sawyer Thomson, and Michael DeBruyn in recent performances. A 2015 Canada tour with the Mendelssohn Piano Trios and Violin Sonata was reprised in 2017 with all-Brahms programs in Oshawa, Montreal, Guelph, and Toronto. First invited by San Miguel de Allende’s (Mexico) ProMusica Series in 2011, Sords has returned with six varied recitals, and with pianist Eriko Izumida, the two returned to West Palm Beach’s Norton Museum Series and the Sounds of Oberlin Concert Series. Sords has been a frequent soloist in the Caribbean, appearing in Puerto Rico, Anguilla, St. Croix, St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Grand Cayman, and the U.S. Virgin Islands - “STRINGS MAGAZINE” profiled the residency with the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Philharmonic.
A man of diverse interests and passionate about social causes, Sords has competed in the charity fundraiser “Pittsburgh’s Dancing With The Stars” as the first classical artist to do so, and has performed numerous times for LGBT outreach, including collaborations with LGBT ensembles (Minnesota Philharmonic, the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, and the Atlanta Philharmonic). Along with Liana Izakadze’s World Virtuosi, Sords appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and performed the Sibelius and Dvorak concerti in appearances with the Jackson Symphony and Brevard Symphony. Sords is a popular guest for various media platforms: featured four times on Sirius XM’s Derek and Romaine Show; profiled by “OUT Magazine”, NPR’S Morning Edition, Australia’s ABC Music Now, Cleveland’s WCLV, and Colorado Public Radio; Sords also performed the National Anthem for ESPN2’s WNBA Pride Game (2014) and a sold-out Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field. Sords’s recent collaboration with Sean Christopher on the New-Age album “Transcendence” has been a commercial and critical success, with reviews stating: “much of this is owed to the gorgeous and precise playing by Andrew Sords, whose violin adds a thrumming undercurrent of pure life throughout the album’s stainless steel structure.” This album is available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.
Born in Newark, Delaware, Sords was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and asked for piano lessons at age five. Shortly thereafter, Sords commenced violin lessons, and his studies led him to the ENCORE School for Strings, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Southern Methodist University, studying primarily with Linda Cerone and David Russell. As a teenager, Sords garnered prizes from concerto competitions (including the NFMC National Competition and the Pittsburgh Society Career Grant), signed with management, and cultivated a media and audience following from innumerable interviews, profiles, and appearances. Following Sords’ debut in Australia, the Melbourne Age declared, “Sords made a voluble soloist in Mozart's Turkish concerto, forging his statements with an admirably firm clarity and bringing out the work's virtuosity as often as possible. His bowing arm showed an attractive suppleness and an attention to variety of phrasing that made even the episodic finale a pleasure.” Sords makes his home in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and his website yields up-to-date news and touring activities: http://www.andrewsords.com.