André M. Reis

1974 -

André Reis, a tenor, composer, writer, and theologian, enjoys a career as both an active musician and frequent writer about theological issues in the Seventh-day Adventist church. He has taught, pastored, performed as a soloist, and served as a minister of music in both Adventist and other denominational churches.

Born in Brazil, Reis graduated from the Adventist University of São Paulo in Brazil with a B.A.in theology in 1995. He came to the United States in 1996 and attended Andrews University in 1997-98, where he worked on an M.Div. While at AU he came under the spell of Stephen Zork and started an M.Mus. program which he completed at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2003.

At AU he was a member of the University Singers and a tenor soloist in performances of Bach's Magnificat in D, 1997; Mozart's Requiem, 1998; and Handel's Messiah, 1998. He also is a soloist on a CD released by the choir in 2001. In 2002, Reis soloed with the Pro Arts International Chorus in performances given in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and in Washington, D.C., of Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. He was also a soloist with the Longy Singers while at LSM. In 2005 he performed at Carnegie Hall under John Rutter.

While living in Massachusetts, he served the music needs of three churches in the Worcester area by serving as Music Director and Praise Team Leader for the Worcester Brazilian SDA Church, director of the children's choir at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Worcester, and choir director at the Evangelical Congregational Church in Lancaster. He did similar work in the Berrien Springs area in 1999-2000.

A linguist, Reis is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and able to converse in German and French. In 2011 he taught advanced Biblical Greek classes and New Testament interpretation at the Adventist Latin American Theological Seminary in Ecuador.

He enjoys writing about musical-theological issues in the SDA Church.  In 2011 he was a special guest teacher at the Ecuador Adventist Theological Seminary where he taught Advanced Greek and Exegesis. He has contributed articles to the Adventist Review, Adventist Today, and Spectrum, writing on Adventist History, Creationism and Prophetic Issues.

He contributed two chapters to En Espiritu y en Verdad, a book on music and worship published by the Pacific Press in 2013. He is a frequent writer for Best Practices for Adventist Worship, a newsletter published by the North American Division Ministerial Association. His latest article is “Winning the Worship Wars”. He is also a frequent presenter at the Andrews University Worship Conference which occurs at Andrews every winter. His article “Ellen White and Music” will appear in a book published by Advent Source.

An active performer, he sang at the premiere of Rutter’s “The Gift of Life” at Carnegie Hall in May 2015. He directs and writes new music for the Florida Hospital Church Choir in Orlando and the FHC Children’s Choir with his wife. The FHC Choir premiered two of his compositions: “O Come Let us Sing to the Lord” and “Blagoslovi Dushe Moya,” both liturgical pieces.

He is presently completing a Ph.D. in New Testament at Avondale College, concentrating on apocalyptic literature. He is married to Francini, a trainer with the NAD Children's Ministries and they have three daughters.  

ds/2016

Sources: Resume, 2003; Biographies at Adventist Today and Spectrum websites (2013); email update from André Reis, 19 January 2016.

Recent Articles

“Ellen White Against Being ‘At Variance’" Adventist Today, 29 August 2012

“New Pope, Old Prophecy?” Adventist Today, 21 March 2013

“The Flood, a Local Event?” Adventist Today, 3 April 2013

Links to PDFs of “Ellen White and Music” and “Sammy Hancock” can be obtained by contacting André Reis at areis74@gmail.com