Andrew Webb-Mitchell

Andrew is delighted to announce that his music is now published by the iconic publishing house Universal Edition, which has a long and prestigious history of championing new classical music. The first two instalments of the Philosopher Concertos series are now available for purchase and hire on the Universal Edition website.

As a teenager, Andrew was obsessed by the life and music of Gustav Mahler and first became aware of Universal Edition through its relationship with Mahler in the final decade of his life. Andrew began to dream of one day being associated with the house as a composer. Nearly half a century later, that dream has come to fruition.

The Violin Concerto (2019) was premiered at the Gürzenich-Saal in Cologne, the same venue where Mahler conducted the world premiere of his Fifth Symphony. The Piano Concerto (2023) received its world premiere on 20 December 2023 in Zhuzhou, China, given by Barry Douglas CBE and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra under Eduard Topchjan. It subsequently featured in an eight-city tour of the region.

The Philosopher Concertos are dedicated to great thinkers of our time, each of whom has had a profound influence on the composer and the formation of his worldview. The Violin Concerto is dedicated to the writer and journalist Christopher Hitchens; the Piano Concerto to the evolutionary biologist, zoologist and author Richard Dawkins. Work is underway on the third instalment of the series, a concerto for cello and orchestra.