Biography
Richard Anderson received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in
Organ Performance from the University of Michigan, USA, in 1975 after which he was
Assistant Professor of
Music at Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina,
USA for five years. During this time two of his organ students won first prizes at
international organ playing competitions. Dr Anderson has also been
organist/choirmaster at various churches in the USA and England, as well as
performed regularly as concert organist in both countries. For the
Petworth Festival (1982) he performed a Händel organ concerto
with the Monteverdi Orchester under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.
Additionally, he conducted an Opera 70 production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro as part of the Chichester Festival in 1987, Lehár's The Merry Widow with the Petworth Singers in 1988, for The Mayer-Lissman Opera Centre, London Gounod's Faust (1996-7) and Massenet's Thaïs (1997) in London and surrounding areas. He also gave numerous piano and organ concerts both as soloist and accompanist.
In 1995 he conducted a series of 4 concerts with the Prima Chamber Orchester at London's famous St James's Church, Piccadilly.
In 2000 Dr Anderson conducted singers and orchestral musicians from Berlin for a production of Gay's The Beggars Opera on the Freilicht Bühne, Spandau, Berlin as well as the first Berlin performance of Erwin und Elmire by Anna Amalia, Duchess of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Additionally, he accompanied Yuhei Sato on a concert tour in Japan (in Tokyo etc) after which they made a recording of Japanese songs. Dr Anderson has also conducted the German-Japanese Chorus, Berlin.
In 2001 and 2002 he conducted the Debreziner Philharmoniker in performances of The Beauty and the Beast (Schambach) on tour in Germany and Austria.
Dr Anderson was Kapellmeister and Korrepetitor at Theater Görlitz, where his extensive experience as conductor, chorus director and repetiteur made a significant contribution to all aspects of the theater's 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons. Moreover, he conducted the Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie in performances of Telemann's Pimpinone. He was also Musical Director for a production of Schmann's Frauenliebe und Leben und Poulenc's La voix humaine. Jens Daniel Schubert wrote in the Sächsische Zeitung on 22nd April, 2003: "The program's massive musical arch, from sensitive Lied to expressive power, was superbly handled by Richard Anderson and the soprano. Sustained applause for all performers."
In 2004 he directed a Wagner concert in Berlin which included excerpts from Die Walküre und Götterdämmerung.
The French newspaper "Midi Libre" said of a concert for the Festival, Les Vendredis classiques de Caunes, in its 1 August 2005 edition: "Richard Anderson figures among the greatest musicians of the 21st century".
Using his concept of "minimal theater" Richard Anderson, accompanied by singers from Berlin, directed performances of Viennese operetta "hits" for enthusiastic audiences in Puebla and Mexico City, Mexico (2006) and under the stars at Caunes-Minervois, France (2007), where he also acted as stage director.
In March 2009 Dr Anderson conducted the Weimar Orchester Franz'L in an operetta concert at the Alte Oper, Erfurt.
Dr Anderson lives in Berlin.