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  • I am a composer
    who explores how music interacts with other arts, in concert and on stage.

    Photo Credit: Bill Dragga (Snark Ensemble at Library of Congress' Mostly Lost 3)

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  • I perform
    in concert halls, museums, theaters, and cinemas

    Accompanying silent films at Atlas Performing Arts Center. ©Sarah O’ Halloran

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  • I am a performer
    who specializes in silent film accompaniment and new chamber music.

    Accompanying silent films. Photo Credit: Sarah O’ Halloran

    Watch + Listen
  • “...a shattering impact.” — The Washington Post
    Upcoming Events
  • I am an improviser
    [Web Series] Sparklers: Andrew Earle Simpson’s Improvisations for the Day

    Photo Credit: © 2016, Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post

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  • My music
    is inspired by literature, visual art, film, and dance.

    Accompanying silent films. Photo Credit: Sarah O’ Halloran

    Works List
  • “Tragically Good” — The Washington Post

    The Furies (James Rogers, baritone, with some Furies, catholic university of america) Photo Credit: Tony Fiorini

    The Oresteia Project
  • My music
    is inspired by literature, visual art, film, and dance.

    Credit: Photo(s) Copyright 2012 by Paul Gillis Photography (Outcasts of Poker Flat, capital fringe festival)

    Works List

[Up Next] Oct. 27, 2 pm: A World in Color, East Building Auditorium - National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC [ more info and upcoming events ]
Oct. 30, 7:30 pm: Spooky Silent Films THE DEVIL'S ASSISTANT (1917) and THE UNKNOWN (1927) at Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, DC. --> Click here to read The 43 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week by The Washington Post [ more info and upcoming events ]
[Latest News] DC Theater Arts' review of Caesar and the Mannequin at Atlas Performing Arts Center
[Available Now] Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents DVD/Blu-Ray is released by Undercrank Productions!
[Available Now] Simpson's chamber ensemble score for Buster Keaton's first feature, THE SAPHEAD (1920), is released by Eureka Video! Watch the official trailer from Eureka Entertainment.
[March 29, 2021] The Naxos album BIRDS OF LOVE AND PREY was the winner of the WAMMIE for Best Classical Album 2021 by the DC WAMMIE organization
[Interview] Andrew Earle Simpson on "The Laura Coates Show" (Monday, 3/15) on Sirius XM about THE FLYING ACE (Friday, 3/19, 8 PM ET)
[November 13, 2020] The Rome School at Home features the Improvisational stylings of Dr. Andrew Simpson. (Watch Video) You can find more of his series "Sparklers" on YouTube.

[Podcast] The Devil's Composer

Smithsonian's Podcast,"Sidedoor"

Released this week, the Smithsonian's Podcast, called Sidedoor. The most recent episode is called "The Devil's Composer," focusing on my score for the 1917 silent film, THE DEVIL'S ASSISTANT, part of a screening of two silent horror films at the American History Museum on Oct. 30. I am interviewed in this episode and describe how the music supports the story as the host, Lizzie Peabody and I, watch the film together. My theater organ score, already recorded on DVD, is playing.

[The Washington Post] The 43 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week
History Film Forum: Spooky Silent Films at the National Museum of American History
Don’t care for the gory slasher films that predominate at Halloween? Get a window into the past at the American History Museum, which is showing two silent horror films, accompanied by music from the renowned silent film composer and performer Andrew Earle Simpson. But don’t think that their age means these films are milquetoast: Organizers warn that “The Devil’s Assistant,” from 1917, depicts drug addiction, abduction and “disturbing religious imagery,” while 1927’s “The Unknown,” which features Joan Crawford in an early role alongside horror legend Lon Chaney, features violence, self-harm and “medical procedures.” 7:30 p.m. Free.

Listen Reserve Tickets
Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents

[New Release]
Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents

Release Date: March 2023 (Blu-ray)

New DVD/Blu-Ray release.
March 2023: Undercrank Productions announces the release of Frank Borzage: 1922 Silents, a double feature disc including BACK PAY and THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN. Both films, from the collection of the Library of Congress, restored and newly-scored by me (BACK PAY, piano; VALLEY OF SILENT MEN, theater organ). 
THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN has never been released on disc before.

Blu-Ray DVD
click play to watch
"Mother's Blood Moves Me" and Athena aria, from "The Double Axe"
at Harman Center, DC
An excerpt from The Double Axe, suite from my three operas on the ancient Greek tragic cycle "The Oresteia."
Music by me, English libretto translated from the ancient Greek by Sarah B. Ferrario.
Premiere at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, DC, May 2019. I am conducting.

andrewesimpson.com/oresteia

[New Web Series] Afterglow

A new weekly web series featuring new music, film, and art in dialogue and live performance.

This new "AFTERGLOW" weekly web series begins with the creation and performance of a piece in three short movements, played by the composer, with instruments which are common household tools and appliances. The music is meditative, reminiscent of chant in many traditions, and underscores a larger point that art can be found anywhere and everywhere, any day. How lovely.


[Web Series] Sparklers: Andrew Earle Simpson's Improvisations for the Day

A series of short, improvised piano pieces based on the day

Imagine being a composer and performer in quarantine. Your scheduled professional appearances over the next several months have been postponed or cancelled. What do you do now? Well, if you’re Andrew Simpson, you improvise.

Professor Simpson, director of the Rome School’s Stage Music Program, has been creating daily videos since April 16, combining short musical improvisations with images on a different theme each day. Read more

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