At the age of 23, violinist Andrew Sords is already a veteran of the concert stage. He is the winner of the 2005 National Shirley Valentin Violin Award, the 2004 and 2005 National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, the Fortnightly Music Club of Cleveland and the Festival de la Orquesta Sinfonica de las Americas Competition of the Casals Festival among others. In 2008, Sords received international exposure as the top Google Classical News story as well as topping the Top-40 Charts in Classical News. Sords has recently toured with the Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky violin concerti to critical acclaim, and has quickly emerged as one of the foremost violinists of his generation.

Born in 1985 in Newark, Delaware, Sords later moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, and began his violin studies with Liza Grossman, the dynamic founder and Conductor of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra with whom he recorded the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 3.

Sords completed his undergraduate education at the Cleveland Institute of Music with violin pedagogues Linda Cerone and David Russell, and performed for the legendary Midori in masterclasses in New York and at the University of Southern California. He continues to meet the demands of a burgeoning solo career which has taken him from American concert halls to venues in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Currently, Sords studies under internationally acclaimed violinist Chee-Yun at The Southern Methodist University of Dallas, Texas.

Highlights for the 2008-2009 season include solo appearances with the Portsmouth Symphony (Brahms), St. Augustine Orchestra (Bruch), Chagrin Valley Chamber Orchestra (Tchaikovsky), Balcones Chamber Orchestra (Mozart 4), Parma Symphony (Tchaikovsky), Suburban Symphony (Beethoven), and the Minnesota Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky). In addition, Sords will perform with the Clear Lake Symphony (Mendelssohn), Manassas Symphony (Beethoven), Medical Arts Symphony (Beethoven), and the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra (Bruch). In the summer of 2008, Sords will appear as concertmaster of the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra.  Together with pianist Cheryl Lemmons, Sords will open Abilene Christian University's 2008-2009 recital series, and will return to Kent State University in recital with Eriko Izumida.  Recently, Sords has appeared with the Carson City Symphony, Rappahannock Pops, Diablo Symphony, Heights Chamber Orchestra, and Balcones Chamber Orchestra. Reinvited by the Kent State Recital Series, Sords performed the complete Brahms sonata set with pianist Anita Pontremoli in a broadcast performance. In 2007-2008, Sords played recitals in Cleveland, Dallas, Nevada, and Korea, and chamber music in the Cayman Islands.

Notable performances include the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Bowling Green Symphony with David Dettloff; Tchaikovsky Concerto with Maestro Luis Biava conducting at the Plaza de las Americas in San Juan; Chausson's "Poeme" and Tchaikovsky Concerto with Anna Balakerskaia in Holland; Sarasate's "Zigeurerweisen" in the Interlochen Honors Recital Series; and a live broadcast of music innovator George Crumb's "Black Angels" on Cleveland's WCLV 104.9.

Sords commissioned a violin concerto from acclaimed composer Evan Fein, which was completed and recorded with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in early 2007. The recording of the concerto is already accumulating awards, and will be performed in upcoming seasons.

In 2007, Sords attended Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea, studying and performing at Hyo Kang's prestigious festival. He is also acclaimed for his performances with Conductor and Violinist Sidney Harth, Neeme Jarvi, David Lockington, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Jon Anderson, Graham Nash, The Supremes, and The Cavani String Quartet with whom he performed in the summer of 2003 at the Allegheny Music Festival. Additionally, in 2006, Sords stepped in on twelve hours notice to perform on the Franciscan University Recital Series with pianist Eric Genuis.

From 2000-2004, Sords and pianist Eriko Izumida performed regularly as recital collaborators. In the spring of 2004 and 2006, Andrew appeared as a guest artist with Ms. Izumida on the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Recital Series. Since 2006, Sords has worked nearly exclusively with Anita Pontremoli, head of the Collaborative Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The two perform together during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons.

Recently, Sords has given performances of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Monti, Mozart, Paganini, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps, Vitali, Vivaldi, Wieniawski, and Ysaye with orchestra and in recital. He has performed in masterclasses with Kyoko Takezawa, Felicia Moye, David Arben, Kyung Sun Lee, Lucie Robert, Julian Ross, members of the Curtis, Miami, American and Cleveland String Quartets and is mentored by Charles Rex, Principal Associate Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

Strongly committed to extending classical music to all, Sords dedicates a portion of his time at almost every engagement to educational outreach, masterclasses and community programming.

Sords is the featured violinist in a documentary on violin technique. He was honored by Pulitzer Prize nominated Composer Kellach Waddle who dedicated his violin sonata to the young violinist. Sords performs on a 1912 Augustine Talisse violin.

Please visit www.andrewsords.com, the official website of Andrew Sords. Sords is represented by EMC Artists, Ltd.  Contact emcartists@gmail.com for press or booking inquiries.