Bio

Andrew M. McAfee – Biography

“His performance was again simply breathtaking with masterful control of color, dynamics, and phrasing combined with superb intonation.”
Magnificent Britten Serenade Highlights COT’s Season Opener By William Thomas Walker, Classical Voice of NC 10/12/2014

“McAfee demonstrates an excellent control of dynamics and execution of the nuances. His playing is as smooth as butter…this is a fine recording that stands up well to frequent listening… It is very pleasant and enjoyable, well conceived, and superbly played. This is a program that is far superior to and positively different from the run-of-the-mill wallpaper music. It doesn’t attract attention to itself by its brightness but rather shines by the brilliance of its playing and its serenity.”

Andrew McAfee’s Début Solo Horn CD by Marvin J. Ward, Classical Voice of NC March 29, 2012

“It is clear from the first track…that McAfee’s project is musical expression. Sure, he possesses a big, warm sound, but the Romantic sentiment behind each piece shines through every phrase… He plays with a huge dynamic range, really letting go when the moment is right… We should all play Hindemith the way McAfee plays Winter – with full commitment to the feeling of the music. The closing work, Franz Strauss’s Fantasie, shows excellent style and plenty of panache. This is an enjoyable CD throughout.”

by Dan Grabois for The Horn Call, October 2012, p. 93-94

After playing Principal Horn with the North Carolina Symphony for 15 years (1992-2007), Andrew McAfee now focuses on mentoring through teaching horn at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and conducting as the Music Director/Conductor of the Triangle Youth Ballet (www.triangleyouthballet.org) and the Masterworks Reading Orchestra (www.masterworksro.com). He remains active performing in local ensembles including principal horn of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, the NC Opera and for the past four years, as a regular sub in the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra.

Brought up in a musical family, Andrew became Principal Horn of the Merced (CA) Symphony by age 15 and made his solo debut with them playing Weber’s Concertino in E at 17. He received a music scholarship to play with the “President’s” Wind Quintet and to study with Dr. James H. Winter at California State University, Fresno. The quintet performed concert tours in Europe and Taiwan, and won awards at the Coleman Competition and at the Carmel Music Festival. During that time, he also studied with David Krehbiel (San Francisco Symphony Principal Horn) and performed and toured with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in Europe. Upon Dr. Winter’s retirement 1987, Andrew transferred to complete his Bachelor of Music in Performance at Northwestern University, where he studied conducting with John P. Paynter and horn with Dale Clevenger, Norman Schweikert and other members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Sante Fe Opera, St. Louis Symphony, Eastern Music Festival and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestras. He has won national auditions and held regular positions with the Fresno Philharmonic, Honolulu, Columbus, New Mexico and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras.

Andrew studied conducting for 9 summers with Maestro Harold Farberman at the Conductor’s Institute at the Hartt School in Connecticut, twice in Bulgaria (with the Varna Philharmonic), and at Bard College in New York. He completed his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting in May 2009 with Maestro Ransom Wilson at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. As Music Director/Conductor of the Triangle Youth Ballet in Chapel Hill, Andrew has conducted full orchestral productions of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker since December 2008 and Sleeping Beauty in May 2008 and March 2009 and Peter and the Wolf in April 2012. He was a finalist for the Charlotte Symphony Resident Conductor position and the Durham Symphony Music Director position with whom he conducted the 2008 Durham Symphony Pops summer series. He has been Music Director/Conductor of the Triangle Youth Orchestra since 2008, twice the interim Music Director of the Chapel Hill Philharmonia (2001 and 2007), conducted the world premiere performance of Symphony No. 1 by Ari Picker in 2008 and appeared as a guest conductor with the Advanced Orchestra at the Durham Public Schools Honors Strings Festival in March 2013.

Andrew has also been a frequent guest soloist, clinician and exhibitor at the Northeast and Southeast Horn Workshops and performed and presented at the 45th International Horn Symposium in Memphis, Tennessee in July 2013. He has been featured with numerous chamber ensembles including the Degas Quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Malarme Chamber Players, Symphony Winds (school educational programs), and performs regularly with the Carolina Wind Quintet (UNC Faculty). Other solo appearances have included the Richard Strauss Concerto No. 1 and the Hubler Concertstuck for Four Horns with the North Carolina Symphony, Schumann’s Concertstuck for Four Horns with the Longview (TX) Symphony, the Saint-Saëns Morceau de Concert with the Enloe Wind Ensemble, Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 1 with the Raleigh Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Salisbury (NC) Symphony, again in April 2011 with the UNC Symphony Orchestra and MET tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and in October, 2014 with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. In January of 2015, performed the American premiere of the Gleire Horn Concerto, with the Fresno Community Concert Band, arranged for band by Marc Reift.

The May 2011 edition of The Horn Call, the Journal of the International Horn Society, featured his article “Five Basics for a Horn Embouchure,” and his article “An Intro to the McAfee Method Techniques” was published in the October 2013 edition of “Uijlenspieghel,” the quarterly magazine of the Dutch Horn Society. His website www.hornlessons.org features his horn and piano CD “A Passionate Horn,” many technique videos, his horn book titled “The McAfee Method, Advanced Embouchure Technique for Horn Players” and information on the National Orchestral Horn Audition Competition (NOHAC) that he annually hosts at UNC.