Lawson Anderson

Biography

Hailed for his “powerful, darkly-hued voice and nobility of phrasing and carriage” (Cleveland Classical), Lawson Anderson is quickly establishing himself as one of the leading bass-baritones of his generation. A former management consultant with an MBA from Columbia Business School, Anderson has made waves in the opera world coming off of his Top Prize finish at the 2018 George London Foundation Competition; First Prize award from the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s 2017 International Vocal Competition; 2017 Opera Index Top Prize Arthur E. Walters Memorial Award; representing the USA as a Finalist of the 2017 Hans Gabor Belvedere finals in Moscow and the 2018 Viñas Contest in Barcelona; Grand Finalist of the 2017 Anita Cerquetti Voice Competition; 2017 Grant Winner from the Giulio Gari Foundation; Grant recipient of the Olga Forrai Foundation for Dramatic Voices, and 2017 Eastern Region Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
 

In 2019, Anderson joined the principal roster of the Semperoper Dresden, taking on the roles of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte), Leporello and Masetto (Don Giovanni), Colline and Schaunard (La bohème), Angelotti (Tosca), Marcel (Les Huguenots), Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte), Barone Douphol and Marchese (La Traviata), The Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince (Into the Woods) and more. 
 

Highlights of the current season include Donner (Das Rheingold) and Gunther/cover (Götterdämmerung) at the Semperoper Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann; Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) in Concert with the Staatskapelle Dresden; a debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with the Staatsballett Berlin in Christian Spuck’s production of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem as bass soloist; and a return with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for their annual Holiday Concerts featuring Handel’s Messiah.
 

Anderson has grabbed headlines: “Lawson Anderson is irresistible” (Rupert Christiansen of The Telegraph London) as an interpreter of Mozart, particularly in the title roles of Le nozze di Figaro with Nevill Holt Opera at the grand opening of their new theater; with the Music Academy of the West under the baton of James Conlon; and at the Berlin Opera Festival and Don Giovanni with the Cleveland Opera. Recent highlights also include a lauded interpretation of Nick Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Nevill Holt; his debut as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust and Colline in La Boheme; and on the concert stage as bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem. Anderson has also been heard at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City as Rocco in Fidelio; in debut at Carnegie Hall singing Wotan from Das Rheingold; and in recital at the National Opera Center interpreting Schubert’s Die Winterreise. Lawson is the student of Valentin Peytchinov.


Photo Credit: Fay Fox

"His voice is like granite; perfectly firm, with a richly veined tone."
— New York Classical Review