About Me

Whether dreaming up community-driven experiences, performing on the piano, or teaching, Andrew Barnwell is almost always working at one keyboard or another. Andrew utilizes daring conversation and profound self-reflection to forge lasting and durable connections within arts and Jewish spaces.

Onstage, Andrew finds chamber music especially invigorating and has collaborated with Timothy Chooi, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, Marcus Thompson, and Yvonne Lam, among others. This coming season, Andrew has solo recitals in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as a series of duo recitals exploring music for piano + violin and cello. Andrew was a founding member of Trio Gaia, New England Conservatory’s most recent Trio-in-Residence and prizewinners in the WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, Premio Trio di Trieste International Music Competition, Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition. Appearances with the trio included concerts at Jordan Hall, the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Harvard Musical Association, and the Davidson College Concert Series. The trio dedicated itself to inviting audiences into conversation through chamber music and presented numerous recitals and educational workshops in the US, Panama, and Japan.

Outside of performing, Andrew developed a love early in his career for community building and event planning. This passion launched projects that have reached thousands, including “In Good (ac)Company,” a 5-day virtual concert series in response to the pandemic that presented 13 randomly paired duos of NEC students and alumni.

Andrew also lends his community building skills to the Jewish community. As a resident of the Brookline Moishe House, he forms tightly-knit communities of young Jewish adults through social and educational gatherings, and professionally, he is a Program Associate for the Mandel Institute for Nonprofit Leadership, which guides executive, educational, and cultural leaders in the Jewish communal space as they employ vision-guided leadership to better their organizations and communities. To balance his creative and analytical sides, Andrew serves as the Development Manager for Boston Opera Collaborative, a company invested in intimate productions that bring audiences face-to-face with the power of the human voice.

Born in Massachusetts, he began his piano studies with Heather Rogers Riley before relocating with his family to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he studied with Søren Pedersen. Andrew attended high school in Seattle, Washington, and was first a student of Mark Salman before joining the studio of Dainius Vaičekonis, and later, renowned pedagogue Robin McCabe. Andrew has earned a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where his teachers were Victor Rosenbaum and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein.

When devoid of to-dos, Andrew can usually be found searching street-by-street for the best bakeries and consignment stores—recommendations are gladly accepted!