Dr. Dwight Andrews

Biography

Reverend Dr. Dwight Andrews is Professor of Music Theory and African American Music at Emory University and pastor of First Congregational Church in Atlanta. A native of Detroit, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University. Andrews continued his education at Yale, earning a PhD in Music Theory.   He has taught at Rice, Harvard, and Yale Universities. While in New Haven, he developed a relationship with director Lloyd Richards and playwright August Wilson resulting in his providing the music direction for the Broadway productions of Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, and Seven Guitars.  Subsequent work included serving as music director for the Broadway revival of Ma Rainey with Whoopi Goldberg and Charles S. Dutton and the Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun with Phylicia Rashad.  In 2022 he composed the incidental music for the Broadway debut of Adrienne Kennedy’s The Ohio State Murders, featuring Audra McDonald.

Andrews has performed on over twenty-five jazz and ‘new music’ recordings and composed music for theater, dance, and film. His film credits include Hallmark’s The Piano Lesson and HBO’s The Old Settler. He served as consultant on two PBS documentaries with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This is Our Song (2021) and Gospel (2024). His most recent essay “Theorizing African American Music” appears in the inaugural edition of the new journal, Black Music in Theory.  Andrews is currently working on a book on religion, spirituality, and jazz. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2024 Composers Now Visionary Award with fellow recipients, Philip Glass and Libby Larsen.

Andrews is married to Desiree Pedescleaux, Professor of Political Science and Academic Dean of Spelman College. They have been married for 37 years.