Andrew Portman

Andrew Portman was born in Auckland in 1962. Between the ages of 6 and 8 he learnt the mandolin and guitar. At age 9 he began piano lessons. He composed and dedicated one piano piece to his second piano teacher. In the 1980’s he attended the Cambridge Summer Music School for piano masterclasses under the tutelage of Michael Houstoun. At one of the musical soirées there, he was impressed by Michael Houstoun’s ability to improvise without sheet music.

After gaining his ATCL, formal piano tuition ended in 1983 and Andrew taught himself piano improvisation. Several opportunities arose for him to use this skill publicly from the late 1980’s and onwards. He played in his Church music team, performed with a musical theatre company, toured NZ with several bands, and had a solo spot on board a cruise ship bound for Antarctica.

Andrew is a self- taught composer. From the early 2000’s he developed his composition writing for the piano, performing one of those pieces in Whangarei in 2002. In 2017 he began teaching piano from his home studio. It was through teaching young beginners that he was inspired to write pieces for his students.