Performance Database

After completing an MBA at Columbia Business School and a career in business, the US singer Lawson Anderson opted for the world of opera and quickly established himself as one of the leading bass-baritones of his generation after his first competition successes. 

Anderson has been a soloist in the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden since 2019. There he has taken on roles such as Colline and Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème and Angelotti in Tosca, Marcel in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Barone Douphol and Marchese in Verdi’s La Traviata, Mandarin in Puccini’s Turandot and The Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince in Sondheim’s Into the Woods as well as roles in operas by Mozart such as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, Leporello and Masetto in Don Giovanni and as the Narrator in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. 

In the recent past, Anderson appeared under the direction of Christian Thielemann at the Semperoper Dresden as Donner in Das Rheingold, Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde, Orest in Strauss’ Elektra and Gunther in Götterdämmerung. He also performed the role of Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress in concert with the Staatskapelle Dresden. He made his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with the Staatsballett Berlin in Christian Spuck’s production of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem as bass soloist. He also returned to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for their annual holiday concerts with Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Highlights of recent seasons include his interpretation of Nick Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Nevill Holt Festival and his debut as Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust. Anderson also appeared at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City as Rocco in Fidelio, sang Wotan from Das Rheingold at his Carnegie Hall debut in New York and interpreted Schubert’s Winterreise at a recital at the National Opera Centre.

Anderson won first prize at the George and Nora London Foundation Competition 2018 and first prize at the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Singing Competition 2017. He was a finalist at the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition 2017 in Moscow and the Concurs Tenor Viñas 2018 in Barcelona as well as a finalist at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale “Anita Cerquetti” 2017. In addition, he received a scholarship from the Giulio Gari Foundation 2017 and the Olga Forrai Foundation for dramatic voices and was a finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the same year.