Fifteen Minutes of Fame: with Andrew White

Dr. Andrew White currently serves on the voice faculty of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He holds a Bachelors and a Masters Degree, as well as an Artist Diploma and Doctorate from The Cleveland Institute of Music/Case Western Reserve University. Previous faculty positions include Indiana University of Pennsylvania, The University of Akron, Hiram College, Lake Erie College, Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and Ashland University. In 1995 he made his New York debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in a program devoted to the songs of Frederick Koch with the composer at the piano.

Ken Smith of New York Concert Review hailed Andrew White as "…a formidable interpreter… Every song composer should be so lucky with collaborators."

Concert Dates

  • August 18, 2025 - Ellington Room - NYC

15 one-minute selections for Andrew White

  • Time

    David Bohn

    Text from William Penn's "Some Fruits of Solitude In Reflections And Maxims", 1682

    David Bohn received degrees in composition from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois. He currently resides in West Allis, Wisconsin, and is the music coordinator at Peace Methodist Church in Brookfield. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers.

  • FIREBRAND

    Erik Branch 

    I recently discovered the poetry of that decadent embodiment of the Lost Generation — the poet, publisher, and voluptuary Harry Crosby. This setting begins with a condescending interlocutor questioning him in recitative; the poet seizes upon his words, and, growing more impassioned, in an arioso ecstatically prophesies a Mad Queen’s advent

    ERIK BRANCH is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, operatic tenor, and actor on stage and screen.

  • Once Awake

    Ross James Carey

    'Once Awake' is a setting of New Zealand author Sherry Grant's poem from her 2023 collection 'Being Katherine', marking the 100-year anniversary of the death of Katherine Mansfield. In my setting I hope to capture something of the poem's dreamlike and improvised quality by utilizing a freely moving modal tonality.

    Ross James Carey is a composer and collaborative pianist from New Zealand, currently a foreign professor at Sias University, Xinzheng, Henan, China. His output utilizes quotation, homage and cross-cultural elements and encompasses art song, music theatre, instrumental works and improvisation.

  • As the Rain

    Sarah Clevely

    This traditional Gaelic prayer is about finding a light in the darkness, a guiding hand when the going gets tough. The piece is in no set key and the melody visits a number of keys fleetingly. The middle section stays in C major providing brief stability, mirroring the comforting words.

    Sarah is a composer of choral and instrumental music spanning many styles and genres, and she enjoys experimenting with unusual instrumental combinations. Her music has been published and performed in the UK and US. Sarah enjoys music theory, and she sings, plays the piano, organ, trumpet and ukulele.

  • A Boat that Sails

    Pernille Faye

    My intention with this piece was to capture this small portion of Rossetti’s text as if it were a stand-alone tale. Drifting through the melodies, the lone baritone reflects isolation experienced by a traveller at sea as they sail further from land.

    Pernille is a Norwegian/Irish composer based in London. Her music explores a diverse range of musical styles, often inspired by the vivid landscapes of rural Norway and other natural images. She has a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Helen Grime and Morgan Hayes.

  • Karitas

    Tom Lane

    Karitas is based on an English translation of a text by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179). The text is a plea to save the beauty and ecological richness of planet Earth. The stark and angular solo baritone melody emphasizes the urgency of the text.

    Tom Lane is a composer based in Dublin, Ireland. Recent commissions include new works performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Esker Festival Orchestra and the Picorlino Ensemble. Tom also frequently composes music for stage productions in Ireland and internationally.

  • Catoblepas

    Darth Presley

    “Give me my fee, and I warrant you free.” (traditional) “We go about in the night and are consumed by fire.” (Virgil) “The catoblepas is a bizarre, loathsome creature that inhabits dismal swamps and marshes.”* (“Dungeons and Dragons: Monster Manual II” p. 14) *and so it is with me.

    I have had some horribly disturbing waking dreams of being a monstrous apparition, part-man, but mostly machine; soulless and demonic, terrorizing man and beast alike with sounds unlike any other, sounds that alternately inspire and chill.

  • Let Mother Breathe

    Gene Pritsker 

    Let Mother Breathe is an excerpt form the song for baritone and piano called 'Mother Earth Doesn't Wear Lipstick' on a poem by Robert C. Ford. I took the last part of this music and turned the piano part into a samplestrea part (pre recorded electronics)

    Composer/guitarist/rapper/Di.J. Gene Pritsker has written over 1000 compositions. All of his compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles and are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures. He is the leader of the eclectic ensemble: Sound Liberation, and co-director of Composers Concordance. www.genepritsker.com

  • tasten II

    Volker Ignaz Schmidt 

    Groping in the gray the eye the inner path on the trail the flood of heaven can attest more I need a hold (Marko Racković)

    Volker Ignaz Schmidt (born 1971 in Germany) studied computer science although his passion is music. He has composed solo works, chamber music, vocal pieces, orchestral music, one opera, conceptual and electronic music. He has written piano textbooks and he worked in school projects on contemporary music.

  • How Much - How Little

    Soheil Shirangi 

    How Much – How Little is a contemplative work for baritone and electronics, inspired by Emily Dickinson’s brief yet profound poem. Through sparse textures and subtle electronic processing, the piece explores the tension between agency and limitation, evoking a meditative space where time feels both fleeting and expansive.

    Soheil Shirangi Now is a student of San Francisco State University at Master of Composition. Graduate of Tehran Conservatory. Second Person Tehran International Electronic Music Festival Award(2017).Candidate best composers Thirty-third Fajr festival(2018). Earning a diploma of the III International Contest of Choral Composing .

  • Do you bloom?

    Kirsten Johnson

    This piece is set on a haiku by Den Sutejo (1633-1698), a Japanese woman poet. The Insen scale from Japanese folk music is used, with trills, vocal slides and repeated consonances decorating the text.

    Kirsten Johnson is a composer and pianist. Performances of her works include: the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra; Festival Osmose, Brussels; Vent Nouveau, NYC; the Boston New Music Initiative; Fifteen Minutes of Fame, NYC. Expressions: Piano Music by Kirsten Johnson was released in 2024 (CRC 4095). www.kirstenjohnsonpiano.com/compositions.

  • By My Window

    Brent Straughan

    "Our little life is rounded with a sleep". W.S. Sleep well, my brother.

    Brent Straughan has enjoyed arranging overtones for ears, for years.

  • Roaming in Thought

    Kyle Vanderburg 

    Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a Walt Whitman poem that can fit into a one-minute piece? Even this one, in thirty-six words, encompasses all that is good and all that is evil.

    Composer and Sound Artist Kyle Vanderburg (b. 1986) grew up in Missouri where the Ozarks meet the Mississippi River valley. His electronic works place familiar sounds in new contexts, his acoustic works feature catchy melodies and too many time signatures. He teaches at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

  • Return

    Blair Whittington 

    Return is a reminiscent of ritornello form with the "return" in the accompaniment and the baritone singing the episodic music, almost like a baroque instrumental soloist. I also love vocalists and using world music samples such as singing bowls, Celtic harp, gamelan and steel drums.

    Blair Whittington is a Los Angeles native and composer. He primarily writes chamber music and songs. His music has been performed across the United States and Europe.

  • The Aliens

    David Wolfson

    I'm a science-fiction buff from childhood, and this piece has fun with both sonic and narrative cliches from the books and movies of my youth. I was going to say deconstructs them, but hey, it's only a minute long.

    David Wolfson is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show.