uky.edu
Andrew Leonard
Instructor in Classical Guitar
Degrees:
MM Yale University
BM from SUNY Purchase
At UK since: 2004
Phone number: 859-879-1863
Email: andrewleonard@uky.edu
VIDEO: Andrew Leonard performs Presto from Koyunbaba (Domeniconi) (Not a UK resource
Guitarist Andrew Leonard has been called “a
guitar phenomenon” by the Portland Phoenix of Maine, named “critics choice” by the Hartford Advocate, “critic’s
pick” by Lexington, Kentucky’s Ace Weekly and hailed
by Northeast Performer for his “inspiring…effortless
mastery.”
Andrew’s concert schedule has taken him throughout the country, from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine. Last summer, he performed and taught at the National Guitar Workshop’s Classical Guitar Summit alongside many of the classical guitar world’s most recognized names including Pepe Romero. This summer, Andrew will return to NGW to teach a course entitled "Beginners and Beyond."
For the past three years, he has toured New England with steel string guitar virtuoso Doug Smith. One of Andrew’s most memorable recent performances was a crossover appearance on the Acoustic Guitar Master’s Series which features the country’s finest steel string and bluegrass guitarists. He is the only classical guitarist ever to be invited to perform on this series. He spent the Millennium performing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Before Andrew began running the classical guitar program at the University of Kentucky's School of Music, he taught guitar at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
His second recording, A World of Guitar Music (Amaranth Records), was released in 2001. Andrew’s debut recording, Music of the Ages, was released on Archetype Records. It was featured as release of the month on WGTS radio in Maryland and both recordings have received airplay throughout the country on National Public Radio affiliates.
After his violin was "mysteriously crushed", at age twelve, Andrew received his first guitar. At sixteen he began studying classical guitar. A year later, he received an award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. He has a Master of Music Degree from Yale University where he was the recipient of the Rosoff Award and was a Yale Club of New Haven Fellow.