Andy Brick is agraduate of the University of Michigan where he studied Composition with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Leslie Basset.  Brick continued studies in composition and theory at Mannes College of Music, New York and was accepted as a priivate studient of Paul Lustig Dunkel, Conductor of the American Composers Orchestra and Westchester Philharmonic.  He currently serves as Industry Associate Professor of Music  at Stevens Institute of Technology.  

Professor Brick's research interest lies in tonal analysis and applications of tonal analysis in post common period tonality.  His paper Whats so American about that String Quartet Anyway? explores the musical Americanisms in Antonin Dvorak's American String Quartet Op. 12 in F.  His current analysis looks at Anton Bruckners Adagio of the 9th Symphony as a correlated deviation from common period harmony. 

Composer:

VIDEOGAMES:  Andy Brick is a prolific composer, conductor and symphonist.  He has composed, conducted and/or orchestrated music for such blockbuster video game titles as Maxis’ Sim City: Rush Hour, Midway Entertainments’ Stranglehold, Electronic Arts’ Sims 2 , Warhammer: Day of Reckoning and 2K’s  Civilization V and Mafia 2.  His concert orchestrations of Nintendos Super Mario Bros., Bungie’s Halo , and  Square Enix Final Fantasy have resounded in concert halls throughout the world.     His music has also been featured in such game titles as Arc The Lad by Working Designs, Shadoan by Interplay, The Far Reaches by 3DO, Tesselmania by  MECC and others.

FILM: Andy has written scores for a number of animated feature and short films including Little Mermaid II, The Lady and The Tramp II, Dilla, and Hats off to You.   In 2007 Andy was commissioned by Walt Disney to compose and conduct music for Sinbad’s Storybook Adventure.  In 2008 Disney/ABC Television again commissioned Andy to write new music for ABC’s Schoolhouse Rock. Andy re-orchestrated the classic film Mutiny On the Bounty for Warner Bros. Picture, and his Tone Poem The Story of The Red Rose was used in its entirety on the film of the same name and earned him best original score for the film which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2011 his score for the independent film SHIFT helped that film earn the highest of artistic accolades when it was acquired as part of the permanent film exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami.

CONCERT MUSIC: In October 2004 Andy received his first orchestral concert commission.  The resulting work entitled “Gygrans Song” was performed live by the Moravian Philharmonic.  In June 2005 Andy won the prestigious “Masterworks of the New Era” award for his concert composition “Hungarian Overture”.  The work was recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic and released on the ERM label and distributed in all major retail outlets throughout the US and Europe.  In 2010 Andy was invited to compose and arrange a concert of brand new string quartet arrangements of various pieces he has written or orchestrated for films and interactive games.  Andy’s most recent concert pieces, The Peacock and Sonata #4 are currently available for review. 

Conductor:

Click the image to watch an mp4 video of Prof. Brick conducting at the historic Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany

In 2003 Brick set a historic milestone conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in the world’s first symphonic game music concert at the Gewandaus, Leipzig Germany to a sold out audience.  Andy wrote the fanfare to this historic concert event that featured his music for Merregnon II. He served as the principle conductor and music director of the concert series leading repeatedly sold out performances from 2003-2008. In 2005 Andy was appointed music director of the European concert series, “Hero’s of Imagination”.  This concert series featured new symphonic music written by Andy and performed by the Neue Elbland Philharmonie.  Brick also served as music director for the first Chamber Music Concert of the Kammerphilharmonie.  Brick has conducted over 70 game titles including Final Fantasy, Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Halo, Guild Wars and World of Warcraft with orchestras throughout the world including The Seattle Symphony, The National Symphony of the United States, The Czech National Symphony, The North Carolina Symphony, The Vancouver Symphony, The Calgary Philharmonic and many others. In 2009 Andy Brick was appointed, and currently resides, as Principal Conductor of the highly celebrated “Play! A Video Game Symphony”

In the News:

Click an image to read the full size article or watch the video

Andy’s music has been featured by the American Music Center’s “The New Music Box” and PRI’s “Studio 360” In Print, Andy has been the featured composer in the New York Times article “A Composer Gives Video Games a Musical Life” and was the featured “Songwriter” in Billboard Magazine’s. article “Brick Brings Videogame Scores to Life with Orchestra” Recently, Andy was selected as the featured conductor in the “Young, Gifted, and Engaged” issue of SYMPHONY Magazine and in early 2007 Andy was featured on the national edition of CBS Evening News.

More information on Andy Brick is available online at http://www.andybrick.com

CAL Curriculum Committee

Director Music and Technology Program

Winner SGA Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award