Laura Andel

Laura Andel (born 1968) is an Argentinian musician, conductor and composer.^[1]

Biography

Laura Andel was born in Argentina and has Moldovan descent, and began music lessons in Buenos Aires at the age of five. She played woodwind as a child and began to compose at an early age. She graduated from Escuela de Música Popular de Avellaneda in Buenos Aires with a degree in Tango performance, and in January 1993, she began the study of jazz composition and music for film at Berklee College of Music in Boston.^[2]

After completing her studies, Andel moved to New York City in 2000 where she has worked as a composer and conductor. She is the leader of the Laura Andel Orchestra and has conducted her music in cities including New York, Boston, Buenos Aires, Caracas, and Berlin.^[3]

She is an associate professor at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York in the Bronx.^[4]

Awards and honors

• BMI Foundation-Jerry Harrington Jazz Composers Award
• Rockefeller Foundation fellow at the Bellagio Study Center in Italy
• Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program Grant from the American Music Center
• Music Composition Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council
• Artist-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, New Hampshire, 2002)
• Artist-in-residence at Sacatar Foundation (Bahia, Brazil, 2003/2004)^[3]

Works

Andel has focused on composing for large ensembles. Her compositions use elements from Jazz and classical music, and feature unusual combinations of instruments. Selected works include:

• SomnambulisT'
• In::Tension:..
• Doble Mano
• Apsides
• In the midst
• Noise Machine

Discography

Music recorded and released on CD includes:

• Berklee Discover (1997)
• SomnambulisT Orchestra SomnambulisT Red Toucan (2002)
• Laura Andel Orchestra/Doble Mano
• Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra In, Thru, and Out (2003)
• Amalgam(e) 10 years of Red Toucan (2004)
• Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra Celebration of the Spirit (2004)
• Laura Andel Electric Percussive Orchestra/I n : : t e n s i o n : Rossbin Records (2005)

Independent releases:

• Laura Andel Music for [+°-] 20 Musicians Music by Laura Andel (2000)
• Laura Andel Jazz Orchestra Music by Laura Andel (1997)
• Laura Andel & Oli Bott Jazz Orchestra Live in Berlin 1999 Music by Laura Andel and Oli Bott (1999)
• Laura Andel & Oli Bott Jazz Orchestra Music by Laura Andel and Oli Bott (1998)^[5]