Lorna
Anderson was born in Glasgow and studied initially at the RSAMD
with Patricia MacMahon before winning a postgraduate scholarship to
the RCM. While still a student, she won a number of awards and
competitions including the Peter Pears and Royal Overseas League
competitions and the coveted Purcell-Britten Prize for Concert
Singers and has gone on to enjoy a busy and varied career,
appearing in opera, concert and as a recitalist all over the
world.
As a renowned performer of the baroque and classical repertoire
in particular, she has sung with all the major orchestras and
ensembles, large and small, in the field including The Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment, Les Arts Florissants, The Sixteen, The
English Concert, St. James Baroque, London Baroque, Collegium
Musicum 90, The King's Consort, The London Classical Players, La
Chapelle Royale and the Academy of Ancient Music under conductors
which include Robert King, William Christie, Harry Christophers,
Trevor Pinnock, Phillippe Herrweghe, Richard Hickox and Sir Charles
Mackerras.
Lorna Anderson has also established an important reputation in
the wider concert repertoire, having sung with the BBC Orchestras,
the Bach Choir, the London Mozart Players, Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic, RAI Turin (Les Noces), New World Symphony in Miami,
the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Symphony Orchestra,
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble InterContemporain under Pierre
Boulez, London Sinfonietta under Sir Simon Rattle and at the
Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals amongst a host of others.
On the operatic stage, she has sung Morgana (Alcina) at the
Halle Handel Festival, Sevilla (La Clemenza di Tito) with the
Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, the title role in Handel's
Theodora with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Handel's Riccardo Primo
at the Gottingen Festival with Nicholas McGegan, Purcell's The
Fairy Queen with the English Concert and Monteverdi's Il
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with Netherlands Opera which
was also filmed.
Her numerous recordings include The Fairy Queen under Harry
Christophers, Haydn Masses under Richard Hickox, a disc of
Portuguese Love Songs with the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and for
Hyperion she has recorded Britten Folksong settings with Malcolm
Martineau, Handel's L'Allegro with Robert King and is an artist on
Graham Johnson's complete Schubert Edition. She was involved for a
number of years leading up to Haydn's bicentenary, in a unique
international project to publish, perform and record all 329 of the
composer's (mainly Scottish) folksong arrangements, accompanied by
piano trio Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, the complete edition of which was
released in 'Haydn year' 2009. On a more contemporary note, she has
also recorded James MacMillan's 'Lament for Mary Queen of Scots'
which she also premiered. She is a part of a three disc set of the
complete Poulenc songs, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau which has
recently been released and has just finished recording Debussy
songs for Hyperion, again accompanied by Malcolm Martineau.
Lorna has always enjoyed teaching and teaches regularly near her
home as well as at Oxenfoord Summer School. In addition, she has
been involved in assessing students for scholarship awards and as
an outside assessor for final recital exams at GSMD and has given
numerous masterclasses both in the UK and abroad.