Andrew Anderson : Associate Artist
Photo: J. Carlos d'Abrera
Anderson was born in 1971 in Melbourne, Australia, where he studied composition with R.A. Ford whilst also pursuing private tuition in violin and piano. His compositional influences are diverse, and include the contrapuntal textures of the Baroque era, the structural forms of the Classical and Romantic era, and a harmonic language extending in to the 20th century. His instrumental works display a decided preference for absolute music, and almost invariably any names hinting at an underlying programme - such as with his orchestral movement Small Town - are added afterwards. Anderson therefore attempts to tap a direct relationship between music and an associated emotional response, rather than via a literary or pictorial intermediary. His use of a harmonic idiom grounded in the late Romantic tradition is key to establishing this relationship, providing the listener with an understood language through which the greatest diversity of emotions can be expressed: an example of this is his string movement Last Autumn which can stir an almost overwhelming range and intensity of emotions in a sympathetic listener. This work also displays the composer's fascinations with contrapuntal writing, with a chromatic fughetta dominating its centre.
Anderson has also written several choral works for the Christian liturgy, with this writing being informed by engagements with parish choirs in both the USA and the UK, as well as private tuition in singing with Nigel Wickens (Cambridge, UK).
Anderson has been the recipient of three Masterworks prizes (ERMmedia, USA) for composition, resulting in several recordings of his works by leading European orchestras. He also has an interest in encouraging community engagement in music performance, being the founder of the University of Melbourne Artists Register.
Andrew Anderson — current to March 2010