A Houston native, Andrew Schneider is a pianist, harpsichordist, organist, conductor, composer, music copyist, vocal and instrumental coach. He obtained his B.Mus. in composition at Rice University. In 2009, he was a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition. His compositions, including a growing body of music for educational-level ensembles, evince his complete faith in the relevance of traditional musical aesthetics and forms, in the conservative spirit of “reality being infinitely more interesting than fiction.” He thus considers it essential to be a well-informed musical citizen about all aspects of the concert music tradition. Throughout this, he is avidly interested in understanding music intrinsically, rendering it relevant to the present age. To that end, Andrew considers being an active performer a key part of being an informed composer. Among his most formative influences in the realm of performance has been Thomas Jaber, whose effortless finesse in providing supportive accompaniment has rubbed off well, especially in the art of realizing continuo from figures. Since 2012, Andrew has been playing harpsichord continuo with period instrument ensemble Mercury Houston, including as part of the Texas Early Music Festival since 2014. He has also played Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony and the Kingwood Chorale, and Haydn’s Creation with the Woodlands Chorale. His extensive activity as a collaborative keyboard artist traverses the gamut from Baroque sonatas and concerti to several modernist masterworks of the 20th century, in addition to the standard operatic repertoire. From 2012-2016, Andrew served as organist at St. Michael Catholic Church in Houston, and since then has been an active church organist throughout the Houston area. Likewise, he has been a staff accompanist at LSCS-Kingwood since 2014. Recently, Andrew made his music directorial debut in Sweeney Todd and Rita, and his operatic coaching debut in Ariadne auf Naxos. He has also coached the leading role in Die schweigsame Frau for a 2016 Pittsburgh production. Such engagements have prompted some clients to dub him “fearless.” In his spare time, Andrew enjoys history, literature, linguistics, cartography, and murder mysteries.