Andrew McIntosh

Rehearsal clip of the new piece yesterday with @yarnwire at @millertheatreatcu . #tunedpipes #harmonics #bowedpiano #viola

Composer Portrait! This Thursday, Feb 5, at @millertheatreatcu with @yarnwire . First half is existing pieces I’ve written for them over the years (plus a little violin solo), and second half is a brand new large piece for piano/percussion quartet + viola. Would love to see you there if you’re in NYC! #tunedpipes #ringingmetal #viola #harmonics #microtones

Mono Lake, December 30, 2025. #schnee #eis #tufa #pogonip

Last year Vicki Ray premiered a piano solo of mine that @pianospheres commissioned for her, “Intermezzo: December 28, 2020, After Midnight”, for solo piano with field recording. It’s a fairly simple piece, using time-stretched polyrhythmic canons made out of the first measure of Brahms’s Op. 119, No. 1 Intermezzo as a starting point, filtered through different harmonics of the piano, with some other little surprises along the way. Here’s an excerpt from a lovely video that @louisng.wav made of Vicki’s flawless and beautiful performance at the premiere last February. Full video on YouTube. #piano #harmonics #intermezzo #filtering #polyrhythm

Our very favorite kind of day in the studio: deep listening, space for experimentation, chasing JUST the right sound and discovering a new score with @septimalcomma ✨ Join us in February for his portrait concert at @millertheatreatcu until then, we’ll be happily fine-tuning these beautiful sounds! #experimentation #sound #piano #percussion #harmonics #openears

Practicing Philtre, Liza Lim’s hardanger fiddle solo, for tomorrow’s @sandiegonewmusic recital at @athenaeummusicandarts . Extremely happy to get to play this beautiful instrument from 1911, on loan for the occasion by the Museum of Jurassic Technology! #hardanger #hardangerfiddle #newmusic #solorecital

It’s alive!!! Today is the day that Fixations, my new album of my string music, comes into the world. A whole community of dear friends and stellar musicians came together for this, and I can’t thank them all enough for their dedication, skill, attention to detail, endless patience with ridiculous tuning requests, and superb musicianship. 1. 434.6, for vln/vla, performed by @aperture_duo 2-10. Fixations, for string octet, exquisitely performed by @wildup and @orionrountree , with violin solos played gorgeously by @urbanmona 11. Duo for Viola and Cello, with any number of violins, for viola and cello accompanied by a harmonic drone from a violin choir, performed by Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick and myself, with Wild Up. This is my second album on @kairos_hne (after Little Jimmy), and was produced, edited, and mixed by absolute dream collaborator Lewis Pesacov. The physical CD also features a transcription of a conversation I had about music and cyclical time with fellow composer, friend, and perpetual source of inspiration Cassandra Miller (c.miller.music). @urbanmona @caitlinkelleyviolin @violet1000000 @powelllinnea @dereksteincello @andrewtholl #justintonation #scordatura #stringoctet #harmonics #listening #time

I suppose it’s a somewhat hard sell to say “you should come to a whole concert of Pachelbel trio sonatas”, since the image that conjures might be one of slightly generic fluff, given the unfortunate association of that name with terrible performances of generic fluff. But, I promise... you should come to a whole concert of Pachelbel trio sonatas next Sunday, Nov. 2 (3pm, Sierra Madre). Tesserae will be presenting Pachelbel’s absolutely delightful cycle of six trio sonatas in scordatura (yes, much like Biber, if that’s what you’re thinking), the Musicalische Ergötzung. These little-known pieces are infrequently played, even in early music circles, mostly because the re-tunings are quite extreme. Less wild than the more famous Biber pieces in scordatura, the Pachelbel cycle is exquisitely beautiful, elegant, subtle, harmonically rich, dreamy, and completely unique. There are no other pieces like these and I love them dearly. Another reason you should come to the concert is that Tesserae is bringing out dear friend Carrie Krause from Montana, and this will be the 7th time we’re performing this program, as we toured it last summer with Baroque Music Montana. Something magical begins to happen when you repeat a program that many times, and I am very excited to share this music with friends in LA after putting in so much work on it last year in a faraway place. #scordatura #baroqueviolin

Mt. Williamson (14,375 ft), 2nd highest mountain in California, and #12 of the 15 peaks over 14,000 ft. in CA that I’m slowly making my way through. Climbed it via the 3rd class West Face route on day 2 of a lovely 4-day backpacking trip with @mhendosun , along with scrambling up a 3rd class route on Mt. Tyndall afterwards, the first time I’ve attempted two 14ers in one day. Shepherd Pass -> Williamson bowl + Williamson/Tyndall -> Forester Pass -> Kearsarge Pass -> Onion Valley: 42 miles and 15,000 feet of elevation gain. Absolutely worth all the effort to be able to get that deep into the mountains! Photos 1, 3, and 9 taken by Marshall. #sierranevada #mountain #peak #backpacking #scrambling

Watched the sun rise over the Mojave Desert this morning from the summit of San Gorgonio. Cold, windy, and highly worthwhile. #dawn #socal

Some photos from Wednesday’s climb of the NE face of Middle Palisade (14,040 ft, 3rd/4th class), with brother @iansmcintosh , Nicky Dyal, and Marshall Henderson. My 11th out of the 15 CA peaks over 14,000 ft. #mountains #scrambling #sierranevada

Reflecting after a truly special evening last night, getting to hear a spectacular performance of I Hold the Lion’s Paw, my 40-minute spatialized percussion quartet from 2014 on the opening night of concerts at this year’s @niefnorf festival (video is from the dress rehearsal). I hadn’t heard the piece in years, and @kevdeadredemption @jacob.koch.perc @moorethanmarimba and @ethan_sherlock brought it to life beautifully. The whole concert was quite lovely, with fabulous pieces by fellow Nief-Norf faculty @chelsealoew @joowonmusic and @kevdeadredemption as well. #newmusic #percussion #summerfestival #bowedmetal #vibraphone