Immanuel Church

Andrew Wygant began playing the guitar at age 9. Originally from Dayton, OH he grew up playing a variety of musical styles, from classic rock to blues. As a teenager he fell in love with classic and progressive rock such as Van Halen, Rush, and Pink Floyd. Eventually, he discovered classical guitar and immediately focused all of his efforts into the classical style. Local teacher and performer Jim McCutcheon was his principle classical guitar teacher during this period. Andrew continued his education at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he received scholarships for study with Clare Callahan for the degree of Bachelor of Music. At CCM, Andrew performed many solo and chamber concerts. During the summers, he attended multiple summer guitar symposiums in the United States and Europe. He studied with Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni at the Volterra Project in Volterra, Italy and multiple world-renowned teachers at the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium in Iserlohn, Germany. He also received merit-based scholarships for two summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School for study with Sharon Isbin, Grammy award-winning performer and chair of the guitar department at the Juilliard School.

 He graduated with his Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar performance from the University of Cincinnati in 2013. He then moved to Brussels, Belgium to study with Antigoni Goni at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) for the degree of Master of Music. This was a crucial formative time in Andrew’s musical journey. Studying with Goni helped him determine his specific area of focus as an artist, developing a strong passion for the music of Claude Debussy and other impressionistic and post-impressionistic composers. This led to Andrew arranging impressionistic piano music for guitar duo and quartet. He eventually performed these arrangements professionally across Belgium in a quartet with his teacher, Antigoni Goni, and colleagues Maarten Vandenbemden and Luca Isolani. Since then, these arrangements have been performed by various guitar ensembles in Italy and other European countries.

 During his time in graduate school Andrew began teaching privately and quickly developed a passion for personal instruction and mentorship. He graduated with his Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance with the highest distinction from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel in 2016. He then returned to Cincinnati, Ohio where he devoted his efforts primarily to teaching full-time. He continues to teach guitar, bass and ukulele in all styles and provides core training in music theory, ear training, and mental techniques to aid in concentration and personal creativity. His goal is to provide similar musical mentorship that he experienced from his teachers, raising his students to the level of artist as they discover their unique individual styles and creative personalities.