Dwight Andrews, composer, musician, educator, and minister, joined the Emory College faculty in 1987. A native of Detroit, Dr. Andrews is an Associate Professor of Music History and Jazz History at Emory University and Senior Minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music from the University of Michigan. He continued his studies at Yale University, receiving a Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in Music Theory.
While at Yale, Andrews served as Associate Pastor of Christ’s Church and was on the faculty of the Music Department and African American Studies Program for over ten years. He also served as the Resident Music Director (19791986) at the Yale Repertory Theater under Lloyd Richards. It was during this period that his fruitful association with playwright August Wilson began. As a result, Andrews served as music director for the Broadway Productions of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Seven Guitars. In addition, he is a Resident Artist at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. His work has been presented at professional theatres throughout the United States and Great Britain.
Andrews’ film credits include Louis Massiah’s documentary film, W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices, Charlene Gilbert’s Homecoming, the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie, The Piano Lesson, HBO’s Miss Ever’s Boys, and PBS’s Old Settler. He also provided the series theme for the PBS documentary on African American’s contributions to the arts in the twentieth century entitled, I’ll Make Me A World. In addition, he has served as a multiinstrumentalist sideman on over twenty jazz and “new music albums” working with such artists as Geri Allen, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis, James Newton, Wadada Leo Smith, and Jay Hoggard.
Andrews is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Pew Trust/TCG Artist Residency Fellowship, a Mellon Fellowship, and Emory University’s Distinguished Teacher Award. Dr. Andrews was the Artistic Director of the National Black Arts Festival (19961998) and, in 1997, was named the first Quincy Jones Visiting Professor of African American Music at Harvard University and continues his relationship with Harvard as a Fellow of the W.E.B. Dubois Institute. He is the recent recipient of a major Meet the Composer Residency at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia and the Walt Whitman Cultural Center in Camden, New Jersey. He was one of five American composers selected for this three year award in 2000.