Andrew Skepasts is a guitarist and composer based in Vancouver, Canada. He is a recent graduate of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music located in New York City, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors. After moving to New York in 2015, Andrew spent two years at The City College of New York before transferring to The New School.

 

While in New York, he has been able to study with some of the world’s finest musicians, including many he grew up listening to such as Lage Lund, Aaron Parks and Peter Bernstein. These experiences have given Andrew an insight into the music that he could not have gained otherwise, as well as opened him up to different varieties of jazz and styles of music. Andrew performed at notable in New York City such as Shapeshifter Lab and Cornelia Street Café. In Vancouver, you can find him playing at venues such as Tyrant Studios or Frankie's Jazz Club.

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During his high school years, Andrew was featured in many honour ensembles and won numerous awards, the most notable being Most Outstanding Guitarist at MusicFest Canada, a national level high school music festival, in both 2013 and 2014. He was also selected to play in the Conn-Selmer Centerstage Jazz Band during these years, featuring select high school musicians from across Canada. In the summer of 2016, Andrew was selected to play in the Ottawa Youth Jazz Summit, an ensemble put together to feature Canada's top jazz musicians under the age of 25. This ensemble explored the groups original music and worked on their music as well as improvisational concepts with artists such as Jim Black and John Hollenbeck. He was honoured to have his musicianship recognized by winning the Stingray Rising Stars Award.