Andy Kirshner is a composer, writer, performer, and filmmaker. He creates musical films and hybrid performances that explore complex social and political questions with wit, grace, soul, and swing.
The recipient of three project fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, commissions from the Mary Flagler Cary Trust, Meet the Composer, The American Music Center, and the Michigan Council on the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Andy's music and theatre work has been produced by Dance Theater Workshop and Performance Space 122, in New York City, and has been performed at theatres and universities around the country. His video/film/animation projects have been presented on public television, and at video and electronic music festivals both nationally and internationally.
Over the past fifteen years, Andy has created several large-scale music-theatre works, spanning a wide range of form and content. From the post-apocalyptic Museum of Life and Death, to the Sinatra-inspired, Evening with Tony Amore, Andy has created a diverse, and quite singular, body of work. Currently, he is developing his first feature film, a satirical "National Security Musical" called Liberty's Secret.
A much sought-after collaborator, Andy has worked with such innovative artists as Ann Carlson, Dan Hurlin, Martha Bowers, Claire Porter, and Milwaukee's Theatre Gigante. He also performs regularly as a vocalist with the award-winning, Hank Williams Project, an avant-jazz/country band led by the saxophonist Andrew Bishop. Andy is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, where he is jointly appointed by the School of Music, and the School of Art and Design.
Andy received his doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Michigan in 1999. His principle teachers include T.J. Anderson, William Bolcom, Evan Chambers, George Wilson, and Curtis Curtis-Smith.