viola - blues

The Complete Blues Viola

There is more to "the Blues" than a specific twelve bar chord progression.  The character of "feeling" of the music (and lyrics) has more to do with making the blues "blue" than the harmonic progression upon which it is based.  It is, however, this basic twelve bar progression that is the unifying factor of the music of this collection.

George Andrix

The New Music
Alberta boasts a wealth of classical composers
by Piotr Grella-Mozejko

Alberta Views, July/August 2000

Now in his 60s, Andrix was born in Chicago and settled in Edmonton in 1970. Known for his elegant modern scores, available from such giants as the leading American publisher Schirmer, he has not shied away from writing witty classical pieces based on blues.

"Participating in disparate musical endeavors has always given me great pleasure," says Andrix. "I have never been able to bring myself to specialize. I'm sure I would be much better at any one of the things that I do if I gave up the others, but I wouldn't be having nearly so much fun." Fun, play, joy of writing music bring pleasure to him, to his performers and his audiences.

Pleasure stems from unifying some seemingly mismatched styles. Andrix's recent CD release, The Complete Blues Viola, is a delightful foray into the world of artistically and technologically advanced blues. Andrix's music is about building bridges, establishing anew the friendly connections between the classical music composer and listeners.

Later he earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola and composition at the University of Illinois where he worked with such renowned musicians as George Enesco, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, Paul Rolland, Sir Thomas Beecham, John Cage, Max Rostal, Benjamin Britten, and Harry Partch.  He studied composition with Burrill Phillips and Robert Palmer.

His training continued at Trinity College of Music in London, England, where his composition teachers were Matyas Seiber and Richard Arnell.  There he won the Ricordi Conductors' Prize as the outstanding conducting student.

Mr. Andrix toured throughout Europe as principal violist of the Seventh Army Symphony and violist in the Seventh Army String Quartet.  In the United States he became a member of the Fromm Players at Tanglewood, The Ithaca String Quartet, in residence at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.  He was employed as Assistant Professor of Music by Ithaca College and by Morehead State University in Kentucky, teaching composition, conducting, music theory, and violin and viola.

As a conductor, Mr. Andrix's experience includes guest appearances conducting standard orchestral repertoire, jazz, and avant-garde music.  In 1973 he conducted a performance for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of L'Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky.

Because of his keen interest in musical creativity, Mr. Andrix has been involved in the performance of many new and interesting works, including the first performance and recording of Harry Partch's theatre piece The Bewitched, in which he played an instrument of Partch's invention called the Cloud Chamber Bowls.  Another unusual performance in which Mr. Andrix participated was the premiere of the Illiac Suite for String Quartet, the first piece of music written by an electronic computer.

George Andrix, composer, is in fairly steady production, being in demand by a growing number of interested performers.  He has written for a wide variety of ensembles with many works for brass and percussion.  He has received commissions from such various organizations as the Composer's and Choreographers' Theatre of New York City, the Montana String Teachers' Association, and the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra (Alaska).  He has numerous works published by G. Schirmer and See Saw Music, both of New York, and a brass quintet recorded on Golden Crest Records.