Dwight Andrews

1951 -

About

Dwight Andrews (b. 1951), composer, musician, educator, minister, and Detroit native, received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music from the University of Michigan. He continued his studies at Yale University, receiving a Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in Music Theory. While at Yale, Andrews served as Associate Pastor of Christ's Church and was on the faculty of the Music Department and African American Studies Program for over ten years. He also served as the Resident Music Director (1979-1986) at the Yale Repertory Theater under Lloyd Richards. It was during this period that his fruitful association with playwright August Wilson began. As a result, Andrews served as music director for the Broadway Productions of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Fences, The Piano Lesson, and Seven Guitars. He also served as Music Director for the Broadway revival production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Charles S. Dutton and Whoopi Goldberg and collaborated with Director Kenny Leon on the Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad. His work has been presented at professional theatres throughout the United States and Great Britain. Andrews is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2005 Lexus Leader of the Arts Award, a Pew Trust/TCG Artist Residency Fellowship, a Mellon Fellowship, Emory University's Distinguished Teacher Award, and the Yale Tercentenary Medal from the Yale Club of Georgia. Dr. Andrews was the Artistic Director of the National Black Arts Festival (1996-1998) and, in 1997, was named the first Quincy Jones Visiting Professor of African American Music at Harvard University. Dr. Andrews was a guest visiting professor of composition at the Yale School of Music in 2003 and gave the 2004 Alain Locke Lectures at Harvard. Dr. Dwight Andrews is presently an Associate Professor of Music Theory and African American Music at Emory University and Senior Minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta. He is working on a study of Black Music and Race based on his Harvard lectures and a manuscript on spirituality in the works of John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, Sun Ra, Dave Brubeck, and Albert Ayler. In addition, Dr. Andrews is editing a collection of critical essays on African American composer William Levi Dawson. These essays were part of a major symposium exploring the legacy of William Dawson, which Andrews presented at Emory University in 2005.

Related Information

http://music.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/andrews-dwight.html#about

Works by Dwight Andrews