“A natural born violist…”
- Nobuko Imai, concert soloist
Andrew Griffin is an award winning violist, composer, and orchestrator. He has performed in such diverse settings as Saturday Night Live, the Met Gala, Radio City Music Hall, and in the viola sections of the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Since 2019, Andrew has held chairs for multiple Broadway shows, and has performed as guest principal violist of the New York Pops. He was also a semifinalist at the 2012 Washington International Competition for Strings.
As an active copyist and editor, his credits include: Kidding (Showtime, feat. Jim Carrey); For Colored Girls (Broadway, Booth Theater - where he was the first black supervising copyist in Broadway history); Ride the Cyclone (Off-Broadway); Planet Earth 2 (BBC); Lempicka (Williamstown Theater); Witness Uganda/Invisible Thread (Off-Broadway) and many more.
Andrew has had the honor of performing and recording alongside acclaimed artists such as Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Coldplay, De La Soul, Shawn Mendes, Lauryn Hill, Jennifer Lopez, Pete Townshend, Cynthia Erivo, and Yolanda Adams amongst others.
His original compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have also been commissioned by notable entities including the Tonight Show (feat. Miley Cyrus & The Roots), Sphinx Virtuosi, the Queens College Orchestra, Traverse City Dance Company, and Simply Three. He is the composer for the horror play The Hollow, premiering Off-Broadway in fall 2025. www.thehollowlive.com
Andrew received his bachelor’s degree with honors as a double major from Carnegie Mellon University under Toby Appel (viola BFA) and Nancy Galbraith (composition BFA), and a master’s degree (viola MFA) from Rice University under Ivo-jan van der Werff.