Douglas Anderson has conducted more than 75 world premieres, including the first electronic music opera (Shaman, by Alice Shields) and the first concerto for steel drums (Reception for steel drums and orchestra, by George Zarr).
His Concert repertoire includes nearly all standard repertoire works by composers from 1700 to the present. Unusual works performed include rarely heard works by Mendelssohn, Grieg, Tschaikovsky, Strauss, MacDowell, Sibelius, Schoenberg, et al. His orchestral repertoire consists of over 500 works.
Ongoing series that Dr. Anderson conducts include annual Messiah Open Sings with the BMCC Downtown Symphony (since 1987); annual Operas on the Terrace with the Downtown Symphony (since 1993); and the Mozart Requiem as part of the annual Make Music New York festival on the summer solstice (since 2018).
Douglas Anderson has conducted more than 100 complete operas in over 400 performances. His operatic repertoire, one of the largest in the world, ranges from the 17th to 21st centuries, including most of the standard repertoire, and representing composers such as Purcell, Pergolesi, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Puccini, Holst, Milhaud, Walton, Hindemith, Giannini, Barber, Menotti, Bernstein, Beeson, Argento and Maxwell Davies. His work with the American Chamber Opera Company can be found at their website: AmericanChamberOperaCompany.org
His pre-concert chats with the Putnam Chorale and the BMCC Downtown Symphony are widely acclaimed by audiences for their historical and compositional perspective, as well as for greatly enhancing the concert experience.
One recent honor was to conduct a volunteer orchestra and chorus in a performance on Mozart’s Requiem at the 911 Memorial as part of the Make Music New York celebration. This has grown into an annual event, with singers and instrumentalists gathering each year on June 21 to perform this great piece.
Many performances of Douglas Anderson conducting the Putnam Chorale are available on PutnamChorale.org.