About Andrew Simpson
Andrew Earle Simpson, composer, pianist and organist, is ordinary professor and head of the division of Theory and Composition at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral music, he explores how music interacts with other arts, in concert and on stage. Both his concert and theatrical works make multifaceted connections with literature, visual art or film, reflecting his fundamental interest in linking music intimately with the wider world (an approach which Simpson calls "humanistic" music). His creative work follows four principal threads of interest: humanistic music (with a particular interest in Greco-Roman antiquity and modern Greece); silent film music; theatrical music (including opera); and folk music (with emphasis on American folk styles).

Silent film, as a nexus of drama, visual art and music, is an ideal genre for Simpson's multi-disciplinary explorations. An increasingly active silent film musician, Simpson is Resident Film Accompanist for the National Gallery of Art and regularly featured accompanist for the Library of Congress' Mt. Pony Theater. He has performed original film scores at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, Sala Cecelia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, AFI Silver Theatre, New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, New York, the J. Paul Getty Villa in Los Angeles, and many other venues. He is also co-founder of the Snark Ensemble, a group devoted to creating and performing new scores for silent film, theater and dance. andrewesimpson.com.