Our Conductor

Douglas Anderson

Douglas Anderson is a conductor, composer, educator, and producer who has been active in the New York area for more than 35 years. He studied music and psychology at Columbia University, where he received three degrees culminating in a doctorate in music composition in 1980. He made his professional conducting debut at the Beacon Theater on Broadway, leading the Boston Ballet (with narrator Cyril Ritchard) in a run of Peter and the Wolf (1973), and since his debut has conducted a variety of ensembles and over 75 world premieres, including the first electronic music opera and the first concerto for steel drum and orchestra. His musicianship and talent as a conductor has been recognized by performers, audiences, and critics alike; rave reviews (in national and local publications) regularly contain phrases such as "excellently conducted", "musically polished", and "eloquent". He is in regular demand as a guest conductor, and is currently the Conductor of the Downtown Symphony, the Director of the Putnam Chorale, and the Executive Director and Conductor of the American Chamber Opera Company.

In 1984 he founded the American Chamber Opera Company, a professional company that performs new and old chamber operas in English. Under his musical and administrative direction, the ACOC has grown into an internationally recognized performing ensemble and has received local, national, and international critical acclaim for its work in presenting opera as theater -- innovative productions that feature talented singers who are also exceptional actors. To date the ACOC has presented 65 productions, including 26 premieres. The company has been featured on local, national, and international radio, including National Public Radio, the Pacifica network, and Voice of America.

With the Downtown Symphony, Douglas Anderson conducts 4 to 5 concerts a season, including two orchestral concerts, an annual Messiah Sing-along (now in its seventeenth year), a children's concert, and an annual opera in concert outdoors (now in its thirteenth year). In 1991 he received a citation from New York City Mayor David Dinkins for "making live symphonic music accessible to new audiences."

With the Putnam Chorale, Dr. Anderson conducts 6-10 performances each year, including major choral works (by composers such as Vaughan Williams, Verdi, Orff, Schubert, Mozart and Haydn), an annual Messiah Sing, a Pops concert, a Summer Sing, and popular and seasonal works for chorus.

He is currently on the faculty of the Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY, where he is a Professor of Music and was for 14 years Chairman of the Music and Art Department.