RICHARD ANDERSON

Richard Anderson

 

Richard Anderson was born in Sydney. He commenced musical training in voice and organ at St. Andrew’s Cathedral School and studied organ at the Sydney Conservatorium before moving to Canberra to further his voice studies at the Canberra School of Music.

Richard joined the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artists’ Development Program at Opera Australia in 2003 and has since become a principal bass with the Company.

For Opera Australia he has performed many roles including Zuniga (Carmen), Zweiter Geharnischter Mann (Die Zauberflöte), Cascada(The Merry Widow), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Count Ceprano (Rigoletto), Diener (Lulu), Major-Domo (Capriccio),Un Ufficiale (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Imperial Commisioner(Madama Butterfly), Araldo(Otello), Erste Soldat(Salome), Sciarrone, UnCarceriere(Tosca), Vierte Edle(Lohengrin), Messaggero(La traviata), Achte Diener (Capriccio), An Officer(Madeleine Lee), High Priest (Nabucco),Magic Christian(Rinaldo), Colline(La bohème), Publio (La Clemenza di Tito), and Curio and Achilla (Giulio Cesare).

Richard has alsosungSarastro in Die Zauberflötein concert for Sydney University Musical Society, Renard (Sydney Alpha Ensemble), The Orderly inHin und Zurück, Piffalah and King of Bambaras inAngelique, The Earl of Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement (Stopera) and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte (Canberra School of Music).

Richard is an experienced concert artist and his many guest appearances in Oratorio include solo engagements in the Puccini Messa di Gloria; Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Requiem, andThe Great Mass in C minor; Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus;  and Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B minor.

Highlights of the past two seasons have included Dottore Grenvil (La traviata), Schlemil/Herman (The Tales of Hoffmann), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Biterolf (Tannhauser), Ribbing (Un ballo in maschera), Colline (La bohème), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Lieutenant Ratcliffe (Billy Budd), and the roles of Apollyon, Mistrust and Envy (The Pilgrims Progress), for Opera Australia, as well as Ashby (La Fanciulla del West) for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra  and his Pinchgut Opera debut as Achis in Charpentier’s David et Jonathan.

During 2009/2010, Richard appeared as Second Armed Man in Die Zauberflöte, the Steward and Sentry in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Swallow in Peter Grimes, Bretigny (Manon), Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ashby (La Fancuilla del West), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto)for Opera Australia, Rocco in Fidelio for Opera Queensland, Ashby in La Fanciulla del West for State Opera of South Australia and with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem. He also returned to Pinchgut Opera as Ariadeno in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo.

This year his roles with Opera Australia include Zuniga (Carmen), Major Domo (Capriccio), Colline,  Doctor (Macbeth) , Tereus (The Love of the Nightingale)  and Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata) and a return to Opera Queensland for La Fanciulla del West.

In 2012 Richard will sing Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Quince (A Midsummer NIght’s Dream), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and 5th Jew (Salome) for Opera Australia, as well as returning to Opera Queensland for the title role in The Mikado and to Sydney Philharmonia for the St Matthew Passion.

 

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