Maxfield and Kavanaugh met a week before the Covid-19 pandemic at the Western Region American Choral Director’s Association Conference. Sound of Ages had just gotten off stage after performing at the conference and they struck up a conversation. It didn’t take long for them to realize they shared a love of choral music, rock ‘n roll, excellent counterpoint, and entrepreneurship. Their collaborative partnership goes beyond a typical composer-in-residence/artistic director relationship, but is more akin to Lennon and McCartney, or Page and Plant, or Mario and Luigi. Out of their collaborative creativity has grown SOA’s Narrative Concert Series, Maxfield’s Book of the Way, SOA’s regular in home Evensongs, and the incorporation of the electric guitar into the Consort. Maxfield is a real visionary and strategist who sees things that others do not, leading to true innovation in the composition marketplace.

Andrew Maxfield

The compositions of Andrew Maxfield—hailed as “rhythmically vital…superbly judged…[and] tender” by Fanfare magazine—have been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, recently by ensembles ranging from The Gesualdo Six and The Choir of Royal Holloway to Salt Lake Symphony and Utah Opera. A recent winner of the King’s Singer’s New Music Prize (Jury Special Commendation), Maxfield has collaborated with Sound of Ages as their Composer-in-residence since 2022.