Following a decade in the spotlight, American violinist Andrew Sords has garnered accolades on four continents  for his performances combining visceral virtuosity and ravishing tone. Hailed in the press as “a fully formed artist” (Kalisz-Poland News), “utterly radiant” (Canada’s Arts Forum), and “exceptionally heartfelt and soulful” (St. Maarten’s Daily Herald), Sords has received numerous awards and distinctions reflecting his career trajectory, including the Pittsburgh Concert Society’s Career Grant, the National Shirley Valentin Award, and the NFMC Young Artist Award.

Born in Newark, Delaware, Sords began violin studies with Liza Grossman. Sords was a pupil of Linda Cerone, David Russell, and Chee-Yun Kim at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Southern Methodist University, and early performances of the Brahms and Beethoven concerti led to collaborations with 250 orchestras worldwide. Of Sords’ Australia debut, the Melbourne Age declared, "Sords made a voluble soloist in the A Major "Turkish" concerto, forging his statements with an admirably firm clarity and bringing out the work's virtuosity as possible. His bowing arm showed an attractive suppleness and an attention to variety of phrasing that made even the episodic finale a pleasure."

Andrew Sords has appeared regularly with celebrated conductors and orchestras. In recent seasons, concerto collaborations have included the Oakland Symphony, Windsor Symphony, Kalisz Philharmonic, Chattanooga Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, Gulf Coast Symphony, Melbourne Chamber Symphony, and the Dvorak concerto at Toronto’s famed Glenn Gould Studio. A recent outdoor performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto was heard by an estimated audience of 30,000. Additionally, Sords has worked with myriad conductors including Robert Franz, Michael Morgan, Sidney Harth, Mario Mateus, Andrew Sewell, Carl Topilow, Scott Seaton, Luis Biava, and Matthew Kraemer. In Fall 2016, Sords returns to Australia to present the Mendelssohn concerto and Vaughan-Williams “Lark Ascending”, and will collaborate with cellists John Walz and Joseph Johnson in performances of the Brahms “Double” concerto.

As a prolific recitalist, Sords has appeared in St. Croix, Washington, D.C., Maui, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, at St. Augustine’s (FL) EMMA Series at Flagler College, and a 2016 tour with the Mendelssohn Piano Trios and Violin Sonata included Toronto, Guelph, and Kitchener-Waterloo. First invited by San Miguel de Allende’s ProMusica Series in 2011, Sords has returned with six varied programs, and will present “The Romantic Violin” in a pair of recitals in Melbourne, Australia. As a frequent soloist in the Caribbean, Sords has appeared in Puerto Rico, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Grand Cayman, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a series of performances with the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Philharmonic was profiled by "STRINGS Magazine". From the Brahms sonata cycle in Cleveland, Ohio, the recital enthused: “Sords impressed with his total command of technique, consummate musicianship and bravura as he tossed of scads of notes and sang out like a diva.” (Cleveland Classical)

Sords has appeared as a regular guest on the festival circuit including summer appearances in Fairbanks, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and the Republic of Georgia with Liana Isakadze’s World Virtuosi. With Ms. Isakadze’s ensemble, Sords appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. In 2017, Sords unearths the little-known Conus, Strauss, and Arensky concerti with orchestra, presents the complete Beethoven sonata cycle with pianist Elizabeth DeMio, and gives the Trinidad & Tobago premiere of the Tchaikovsky concerto. A Midwest recital tour with pianist Maxim Bernard is followed by the Mendelssohn trio/sonata cycle in Montreal and unaccompanied programs of Ysaye/Paganini/Bach in Cleveland, Chicago, and Milwaukee. 

A man of diverse interests, Sords has competed in the charity fundraiser “Pittsburgh’s Dancing With The Stars” as the first classical artist to do so. Sords has performed numerous times for GLBT outreach, including both the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven Violin Concerti in return collaborations with the Minnesota Philharmonic and Atlanta Philharmonic. Featured four times as a guest on Sirius XM’s Derek and Romaine Show and profiled by “OUT Magazine”, NPR’S Morning Edition, and hundreds of media outlets, Sords also performed the National Anthem for ESPN2’s WNBA Pride Game (2014). Sords’s recent collaboration with Sean Christopher on the New-Age album “Transcendence” has been a commercial and critical success, with reviews stating: “much of this is owed to the gorgeous and precise playing of Andrew Sords, whose violin adds a thrumming undercurrent of pure life throughout the album’s stainless steel structure.” This album is available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby.

Sords is represented by EMC Artists, Ltd., and makes his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.