Ethnicity:
Father's side from Hamburg, Germany via Havana, Cuba; Mother's side from Lancaster, Lancashire, England
Andrew Gelt was born on February 2, 1951 in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, United States of America.
From 1966 to 1969 Andrew Gelt attended Manzano High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, United States. From 1969 to 1973 he attended the University of New Mexico, where he received a Bachelor of Music Theory degree. From 1972 to 1973 he studied at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver where he obtained the Master Performance Diploma. From 1973 to 1975 Andrew attended the University of Southern California, where he gained a Master of Music Performance degree studying with Mitchell Lurie, with an additional concentration in Analog Music Synthesis. In 1978 he graduated from the University of Miami with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Symphonic Composition.
Andrew-Lloyd von Gelt, a blatantly eclectic composer of the type characterized by Leonard Bernstein in his Six Talks At Harvard, wrote music in the strict eclectic vein exemplified by his Symphony No. 1, Op. 34 "The Art of Eclecticism." Eclecticism was, as well, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. In one of his earlier publications he wrote, "Music in the style of the 'Haydo-Mozarts' may be written next to that of the Polish Avant-Garde. A Strauss-sounding waltz may be heard at the same time as integral serialism. The possibilities are once again infinite. The future will show [...] that there is a universal acceptance of Gesamtstilwerke and that eclecticism can be viewed as a style in itself. The liberation of the composer from stylistic unity is long overdue." (See A Statement Concerning Eclecticism and the Gesamtstilwerk [an SCI publication]).
Although Gelt's works are primarily instrumental, his vocal works employ what he refers to as Unsinntext. Other compositional concepts include solipzistische Musik, Virtuoso-Komposition, and Eclectic Modulation. At the time of this writing, he had composed some forty major works.
He had developed a system to be used in both the composition and analysis of eclectic music but Leonard Bernstein, who in 1977 had referred to Andrew Gelt as "one of the future's" wrote, "The basic premise is sound, though I find it much more applicable to analysis than to composition itself." Gelt soon after developed a thinking model to be used exclusively for composition entitled Quantum Synergy In Eclecticism. Within two major areas, a microcosm and macrocosm, he expounded upon contrasting concepts of intuitive/quantified, referential/authentic, and empirical/Bergsonian eclecticism, and identified the types of eclecticism as synchronic, anachronistic, genetic, juxtaposed, and compound.
Dr. Gelt served on the faculties of Richmond Technical Institute, the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina, and Temple University where he served on the graduate faculty and taught the Princeton University Graduate Composition Seminar. His degrees include Bachelor of Music "cum laude with Distinction" in Music Theory from the University of New Mexico, Master of Music in Clarinet Performance studying with Mitchell Lurie from the University of Southern California with a second major in Analog Music Synthesis, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Symphonic Composition from the University of Miami where he studied wind ensemble conducting with Frederick Fennell. He also studied clarinet with Stanley Drucker of the New York Philharmonic and the Juilliard School, and attended the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver where he received the Master Performance Diploma.
Andrew Gelt is an active recitalist on the clarinet and has performed in the major ensembles of several cities. His Los Angeles performance of Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra was reviewed by composer Aaron Copland, himself. He is also an accomplished jazz saxophonist and popular musician having begun playing professionally with his father's swing band at the age of 12. Dr. Gelt has performed or conducted concerts for eight United States Presidents and is included in Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research by Paul Laird.
He is currently seeking funding in order to continue developing his neurological diagnostic methodology utilizing physiological and cognitive responses to musical just intervals. Consultants on this project include former Presidential Candidate Dr. Ben Carson.
Upon reaching mandatory military retirement age, Dr. Gelt had also served some 36 years in three branches of the United States Armed Forces Reserves in various capacities, including 21 years as a conductor in the Military Band field with overseas missions in five different countries. He served his final six years as a Military Funeral Honor Guard, performing more than 1600 funerals as a Bugler and Flag Presenter.
Andrew Gelt is a member of the Anglican Orthodox Church of the Anglican Province of America.
Quotes from others about the person
"One of the interesting things about music is the constantly different way in which young men and women look at it. It is a marvelous kaledidoscope to everybody who touches it. To some people it is, of course a simple tunnel view of what they already know and what they very much enjoy. For others, it is a microscopic view of the moment. For yet others, it is a marvelously telescopic view of great distant visions. Andrew Gelt has a particular view of music as a very eclectic art." --Frederick Fennell
"[Andrew Gelt's] performance of my CLARINET CONCERTO, [...] a very creditable job. I thought the cadenza well played." --Aaron Copland
Concerto-Quintet for Five Clarinets Assorted:
"It is a fine work with wonderful sounds and exciting rhythms, and it was my pleasure to listen to it." -- Stanley Drucker
A clever, intellectual, dancy, ballet-type of music..." --Ned Rorem
re: Tempus Fugit "...loved how the string and wind instruments told a bittersweet story with nostalgic melodies--especially appreciated the more tender and dolce moments." --PARMA Recordings
"[His] Symphony No. 1 is one of the most comprehensive examples of eclectic process in composition with which I am familiar." Clifford Taylor, 1979
"'Clever' is the word for Andrew Gelt's Electronic Toy Sumphony, a tongue-in cheek conjuration of sounds produced by cheap [audio] toys, subtitled 'Bateries Not Included.' It is also a take-off on Leopole Mozart's indelible Toy Symphony long attrirbuted to Haydn. --James Roos, The Miami Herald
"Perfect!" --Stanley Drucker, regarding Andrew Gelt's performance of Première Rhapsodie by Claude Debussy
