Singer, Composer and Interdisciplinary artist Andy Garbi was selected in 2015 to open the Louis Vuitton Paris fashion show. Andy’s cutting edge singing voice and music creation has gained the support of leaders in all fields of the creative arts. He has worked with Nigel Kennedy, musicians from the CBSO and as a singer with cult bands Suns of Arqa, Headhunters and Celtarabia. Andy has also appeared on the same bill as The Prodigy, Roni Size, Transglobal Underground, Square Pusher, Jah Wobble and Massive Attack, as well as headlining major stages at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, The Big Green Gathering, Windows on The World, Ely Folk Festival and the Trans Musicale, Europe’s biggest world music festival.

Andy’s unfettered approach in bringing together his voice with different musical elements such as manipulated found objects and orchestral instruments, has contributed to the development of a unique filmic style that has been featured on BBC R3 Late Junction, Classic fm, Chill fm and RTE Lyric fm. The launch of his debut solo album ‘The Sound Of One’ attracted global critical acclaim and led to an awarded scholarship for a music residency at the Banff Centre for The Arts Canada.

Returning to the UK, Andy created the multi-site-specific acoustic-heritage project The Unsung Antiquarium and became an endorsed artist with the National Trust. Also supported by Arts Council England, Roland UK and the British Library, the project became the launchpad for his large-scale work. Examples include VITRESCENCE, a world-premiere installation/performance inside a 100ft high cone chimney featuring an 18-piece choir, surround sound system and brass ensemble. He also created Shadows & Dust, an audiovisual quadtych installation for the inauguration of the Coffin Works museum in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

A graduate of both music and fine art, Andy has been awarded a double distinction, the Masters’ Prize and the Postgraduate Prize by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Channel 4 IdeasFactory film music prize and letters of commendation from Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Netherlands Embassy for his international work. These plus other successes such as working with Tibetan refugee musicians in India and making sound diaries of ancient Himalayan trade routes up to 15,000ft, led to being selected as a music ambassador for an Anglo-Dutch arts exchange. The subsequent performance at the CBSO centre featured Andy drumming on an upturned bicycle along with his bespoke ensemble (String Quartet, Drums, Gamelan, Piano, Music Technology) and received the PRS ATOM award for advances towards original music.

Andy’s collaborations extend to film, fashion, theatre and dance – creating numerous scores for dance-theatre, contemporary dance and ballet. He has appeared on BBC2 The Art Show and Ireland’s premiere Arts programme Arena, also accompanying Culture Ireland dance tours across the European continent. His audiovisual work has previously been exhibited at Channel 4 Rolling Stock festival, Capsule festival and was featured on the Channel 4 website 4Talent. Andy was also featured artist at the Inside Outside online arts festival. This inspired other nature-responsive works such as Day of Equal Night – an audiovisual poem created for the Spring Equinox commissioned by Culture Central.

Recent commissions include music for Uilleann Pipes for Dylan Quinn’s dancetheatre piece The Cairn which was subsequently broadcast on BBC radio Ulster. Andy has just received a coveted HMUK music award. He is currently working on his new solo album and plans to return to live performance in 2023