Richard Anderson
Bass
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.
His Opera Australia repertoire include Zuniga (Carmen), Zweiter Geharnischter Mann (Die Zauberflöte), Cascada (The Merry Widow), Count Ceprano (Rigoletto), Diener (Lulu), Major-Domo (Capriccio), Un Ufficiale (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Imperial Commisioner (Madama Butterfly), Araldo (Otello), Erste Soldat (Salome), Sciarrone, Un Carceriere (Tosca), Vierte Edle (Lohengrin), Messaggero (La Traviata), Achte Diener (Capriccio), An Officer (Madeleine Lee), High Priest (Nabucco), Magic Christian (Rinaldo), Publio (La clemenza di Tito) and Curio and Achilla (Giulio Cesare).
Richard has also sung Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in concert for Sydney University Musical Society, Renard (Sydney Alpha Ensemble), The Orderly in Hin und Zurück, Piffalah and King of Bambaras in Angelique, The Earl of Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement (Stopera) and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte (Canberra School of Music).
He is also an experienced concert artist and has many guest appearances in Oratorio include solo engagements in the Puccini Messa di Gloria, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Requiem and The Great Mass in C minor; Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus and Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B minor.
Highlights have included Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata), Schlemil/Herman (The Tales of Hoffmann), Biterolf (Tannhäuser), 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.
Recent roles include Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), 5th Jew (Salome) Sarastro and Second Armoured Man (Die Zauberflöte), the Steward and Sentry (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Swallow (Peter Grimes), Bretigny (Manon), Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ashby (La fancuilla del West), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto) all for Opera Australia; the title role (The Mikado), Zuniga (Carmen), Major Domo (Capriccio), Colline (La bohème), Doctor (Macbeth), Tereus (The Love of the Nightingale), Dottore Grenvil (La Traviata), Rocco (Fidelio) for Opera Queensland; Ashby (La fanciulla del West) for State Opera of South Australia; Ariadeno (Cavalli’s L’Ormindo) for Pinchgut Opera; Verdi’s Requiem with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
In 2013 Richard sang Count Ribbing (Un ballo in Maschera), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), The King (Aida), Ormonte (Partenope), Marchese di Calatrava (La forza del destino) and Dr Grenvil (La Traviata) for opera Australia, and will be soloist in Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.