Andy Vores was born Wales and raised in England. He studied at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie. From 1982 working as Composer-in-Residence at The City University, London. In 1986 he was a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood. He has lived in Boston since 1990.

1999 to 2001 he was Composer-in-Residence to the BankBoston Celebrity Series, and 2002 to 2005 Composer-in-Residence to the New England Philharmonic. From 2001 until 2016 he taught at The Boston Conservatory where he was Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History. 

Commissions include Freshwater (The Boston University Opera Institute), Wetherby Nocturne for Kathleen Supové (The Barlow Endowment), Quartet No.3 for The Borromeo String Quartet (Chamber Music America), World Wheel for The Cantata Singers, Umberhulk for Boston Musica Viva, and Uncertainty Is Beautiful for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. 

Awards include a Koussevitsky Fellowship, the Kucyna International Composition Competition, the Scottish National Orchestra Ian Whyte Award, the Tanglewood Prize for Composition, the Omaha Symphony Guild New Music Contest, and the Huddersfield Festival.

Recent performances include No Exit by Florida Grand Opera, Fabrication 15: Amplification (Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music), Spencer the Rover (Chorus Pro Musica), Drive (The New England Philharmonic) Grand Monadnock Measures (Monadnock Music Festival), and Chrononhotonthologos (Guerilla Opera).