A native of Hardwick, Vermont, Andy Gagnon has dedicated his life to music. He has worked across the world as a percussionist, composer, and educator.
During his undergraduate studies at the University of Vermont, Andy, along with Dr. Patricia Riley and fellow music education student Will Charron, developed a composition concentration within the music education major at UVM and was among the first to graduate with the concentration. Andy was the recipient of the 2012 Thomas L. Read Prize in Composition and the 2013 David Yandell Award for excellence in music education. in 2018, he was the recipient of the TURN Music Collegiate Composition Prize.
Andy has worked as a private percussion instructor since 2009. He has worked as an instructor at the Governor's Institute on the Arts, the Vermont Jazz Camp, U-32's summer jazz camp, the Get Thee to the Funnery camp in Barre, and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony Summer C.A.M.P. Gagnon has also served as a composition mentor for Music-COMP (formerly the Vermont MIDI Project) and as a guest conductor for numerous Vermont district music festivals.
Andy holds a B.S. in Music Education with a concentration in music composition from the University of Vermont, where he studied percussion with Jeff Salisbury and Dr. D. Thomas Toner, education with Dr. Patricia Riley and Dr. Holly-Lynn Busier, conducting with Dr. Yutaka Kono, and composition with Dr. David Feurzeig and Dr. Patricia Julien. He holds an M.F.A. in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he studied with Roger Zahab, Don DiNicola, Andy Jaffe, and Diane Moser.
Andy has played as a side man for a wide variety of artists and groups, including Ray Vega, Noah Young, Eugene Uman, The East Coast Inspirational Singers, Birdcode, Dennis McNeil, APEX Ensemble, Bruce Sklar, Eric Lindberg, Elizabeth!, Joe Davidian, Justin Levinson, Dan Liptak, Collin Craig and Matt Davide. He regularly performs with Lovecraft, The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, Cleary / Gagnon / Saulnier, Girls Girls Girls, and PURPLE: A Tribute to Prince feat. Craig Mitchell.
Andy lives in Morrisville, Vermont with his wife Leah, their dogs Spock and Kiwi, Minerva the cat, and Poppy Seed the chinchilla. He is the instrumental music director at Stowe Elementary, Middle, and High schools, the manager of the Vermont All State Music Festival band, the personnel manager for The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, a faculty member of the VT Governor's Institute on the Arts, a board member of Music-COMP, and the founding director of the VMEA District II Jazz Festival.
During his undergraduate studies at the University of Vermont, Andy, along with Dr. Patricia Riley and fellow music education student Will Charron, developed a composition concentration within the music education major at UVM and was among the first to graduate with the concentration. Andy was the recipient of the 2012 Thomas L. Read Prize in Composition and the 2013 David Yandell Award for excellence in music education. in 2018, he was the recipient of the TURN Music Collegiate Composition Prize.
Andy has worked as a private percussion instructor since 2009. He has worked as an instructor at the Governor's Institute on the Arts, the Vermont Jazz Camp, U-32's summer jazz camp, the Get Thee to the Funnery camp in Barre, and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony Summer C.A.M.P. Gagnon has also served as a composition mentor for Music-COMP (formerly the Vermont MIDI Project) and as a guest conductor for numerous Vermont district music festivals.
Andy holds a B.S. in Music Education with a concentration in music composition from the University of Vermont, where he studied percussion with Jeff Salisbury and Dr. D. Thomas Toner, education with Dr. Patricia Riley and Dr. Holly-Lynn Busier, conducting with Dr. Yutaka Kono, and composition with Dr. David Feurzeig and Dr. Patricia Julien. He holds an M.F.A. in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he studied with Roger Zahab, Don DiNicola, Andy Jaffe, and Diane Moser.
Andy has played as a side man for a wide variety of artists and groups, including Ray Vega, Noah Young, Eugene Uman, The East Coast Inspirational Singers, Birdcode, Dennis McNeil, APEX Ensemble, Bruce Sklar, Eric Lindberg, Elizabeth!, Joe Davidian, Justin Levinson, Dan Liptak, Collin Craig and Matt Davide. He regularly performs with Lovecraft, The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, Cleary / Gagnon / Saulnier, Girls Girls Girls, and PURPLE: A Tribute to Prince feat. Craig Mitchell.
Andy lives in Morrisville, Vermont with his wife Leah, their dogs Spock and Kiwi, Minerva the cat, and Poppy Seed the chinchilla. He is the instrumental music director at Stowe Elementary, Middle, and High schools, the manager of the Vermont All State Music Festival band, the personnel manager for The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, a faculty member of the VT Governor's Institute on the Arts, a board member of Music-COMP, and the founding director of the VMEA District II Jazz Festival.