Compositions by Douglas Anderson include chamber works, orchestral works, concerti, vocal music (including synthesized voice), electronic music, radio drama, jazz, film, opera and musical theater. Early works that have frequent performances include “…increasingly, physical…” for solo flute, Five Bagatelles and a Synopsis for piano, Piece for Clarinet and Tape, Abe’s Rag for keyboard, Two “Erotic” Songs , Fragments, and Haiku for voice alone. Other important early works include the Duo for Flute and Harp, Woodwind Quintet No. 2, and Chamber Symphony No. 2.

In January, 1991 his music was presented in a retrospective concert by the New Renaissance Chamber Artists. His music has been heard in three radio dramas broadcast nationally on NPR’s The Radio Stage: “Romance Concerto”, “The Sound of Fear Clapping”, and The King of Jazz. His 10-minute chamber opera entitled Faust Triumphant was premiered to critical acclaim as part of the International Faust Festival in March, 1995. He wrote the original score for Joshua and David, a film by Michael Spenelli, and his dramatic song cycle My Year, My Life for baritone and six instruments was premiered in June, 1998, to critical and audience acclaim.

In the 21st century premieres include the opera Medea in Exile (to a libretto by Andrew Joffe, premiered in June, 2000); Chamber Symphony No. 3, premiered in March, 2001 and played over 25 times throughout the northeastern U.S.; and “…mood, enough…” for viola solo, premiered in 2007. Chamber Symphony No. 4 was commissioned by the di.vi.sion piano trio and premiered in May 2011.

His recent major works include Spirit Guide, a concerto for clarinet and orchestra with obbligato soprano (premiered by the Brooklyn Symphony in April, 2014); Whispers of Weeping: Mozart (an iconoclasm), premiered by the Downtown Symphony in March 2014; and a song cycle for mezzosoprano and piano entitled Cassandra Songs (premiered by Esther Hickman on A Potpourri of Song recital in March, 2014).   Works being prepared for performance include the video opera Through/In and the chamber opera Antigone Sings.

Recordings of his compositions include Douglas Anderson Chamber Symphonies 2, 3, & 4, released in January of 2016 on Ravello Records; In Memoriam, on SPARKS: MINIATURE WORKS FOR ORCHESTRA released in summer, 2016 on Navona Records; and One at a Time, solo instrumental works by Douglas Anderson, released in August, 2018 on Ravello Records.

Along the way, Dr. Anderson has also written a large number of instrumental and choral arrangements for various combinations of voices and instruments.

For interviews about Douglas Anderson as a composer, click here for the Inside Story on Parma Records website; or here for an interview with Eight Strings & a Whistle.

Coming soon:  a website where you will be able to purchase and download PDFs of works by Douglas Anderson.  Look for the announcement here that noxonpublications.com is up and ready for business.