Biography[edit]

Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University, privately with Tristan Murail in Paris, and on courses given by Olivier Messiaen, Per Nørgård and György Ligeti.


From 2000 to 2004 he was Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music, and from 2004 to 2007 Fanny P. Mason Professor of Music at Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Composition and Composer in Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[1] He was Composer-in-Association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2005 and Daniel R. Lewis Fellowship Composer with the Cleveland Orchestra from 2005 to 2007. From 2002 to the end of the 2010–11 concert season, he was artistic director of the 'Music of Today' concert series run by the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. From 2013 to 2016 he was Composer in Residence with Wigmore Hall.


Anderson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to music.[2]

Towards Poetry, ballet (1999; extended version for dance pf Poetry Nearing Silence (1997))

The Comedy of Change, ballet, chamber ensemble (2009), commissioned by [10]

Ballet Rambert

Thebans (2010–14), for [11][12]

English National Opera

Dramatic


Orchestral


Chamber Music


Instrumental


Piano:


Other:


Vocal


Choral


Anderson's music is published by Schott Music. Works written before 2014 are published by Faber Music.[13]

1993 Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Composer Prize

2001 South Bank Show Award for the Best New Dance Work for The Bird Sings with its Fingers

2004 British Composer Award for Symphony

2006 for Large-Scale Composition for Book of Hours[14]

Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award

2007 Best of Category (Contemporary) Gramophone Award Winner for the recording Alhambra Fantasy (BBC Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen)

2011 British Composer Awards for Fantasias and Bell Mass

2013 South Bank Show Award for The Discovery of Heaven and for education work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra

[15]

2015 for Thebans and String Quartet No. 2[16]

British Composer Awards

2016 for Chamber-Scale Composition for Van Gogh Blue[17]

Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award

2017 BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award for In lieblicher Bläue and Alleluia (LPO Label)

[18]

2023 for Litanies[19][20]

Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition

Profile on Schott Music website

Profile on Faber Music website

Archived 8 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Faculty page at Guildhall School of Music and Drama