Bridging the worlds of music and theatre, Finn Anderson is one of Scotland’s most enchanting storytellers. He has co-created four award-nominated musicals, released two solo albums, and collaborated with leading theatre companies, artists and musicians throughout the UK and internationally.
“Finn's knack for poetic storytelling and knowledge of musicality simply steal you away into a world of his own making" (Fresh on the Net)
As a writer and composer, Finn consistently tackles complex themes and ambitious fusions of musical styles. In 2018 he composed Islander - a contemporary folktale for two performers and live vocal looping technology. Created on the Isle of Mull with director Amy Draper and writer Stewart Melton, Islander sold out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning Musical Theatre Review’s Best Musical Award before transferring to London’s Southwark Playhouse where the show was nominated for the Off-West-End Award for Best New Musical. The New York premiere ran for 9 weeks Off-Broadway in Spring 2022, and the US Tour began at Seattle Rep and Chicago Shakespeare in 2023. Islander has been translated into Korean & Polish, adapted for BBC Radio 4, re-imagined for screen with Dundee Rep and Eden Court Highlands, and captured in an Original Cast Recording released in 2020.
“the loops and harmonies of Finn Anderson’s score for Islander are astonishing… it’s a gorgeous production, rich in wit, musicality and transformation.” (The Guardian)
In 2023, Finn co-created critically-acclaimed folk musical A Mother’s Song with Tania Azevedo. Tracing the journey of folk songs across the Atlantic via four generations of Scots-Irish women who sang them, A Mother’s Song opened at Macrobert Arts Centre in February 2023 accompanied by the release of a 5-track EP. The musical was featured in The Stage Top 50 Shows of 2023.
“an ambitious, expansive, evocative show about music and motherhood that brims with heart and history… Is it the next great Scottish musical? Possibly. Probably. This is certainly not the last we will see of it”. (The Stage)
As a singer-songwriter, Finn released his second album Into the Arms of Ghosts in October 2021; a collection of songs that moves freely from the soft and intimate to the bold and dramatic, strung together by sensitive and striking lyrics that go straight for the heart. Rooted in the natural landscapes of rural Fife and Perthshire, Into the Arms of Ghosts weaves stories of longing & belonging, love & loss, childhood & growth. A captivating singer and storyteller with a rich baritone voice, Finn has performed throughout the UK and US alongside artists such as Douglas Dare, Rachel Sermanni, James Yorkston, Horse McDonald, The Magic Lantern and Tom Robinson.
“songs of absolute quality… the kind of record my younger self could only have dreamed of as a lonely queer teenager back in the 1960s” (Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music)
Other musicals include City of Dreams (American Music Theatre Project/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) Call to Adventure (BBC Scotland/National Theatre of Scotland, Scenes For Survival) Come Hell or High Water (Citizens Theatre/Sky Arts) Streets (Hackney Empire/The Cockpit/The Vaults, ‘Best New Musical’ nominee, Off West End Awards), The Snow Queen (The Lyceum, Edinburgh).
Finn was the 2020 recipient of the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Scheme. He is currently an Associate Artist at The Lowry and on attachment at the National Theatre, London.
As a composer Finn has collaborated on theatre, circus, dance and art projects with National Theatre of Scotland, Sky Arts, BBC, Upswing Aerial Circus, Scottish Dance Theatre, ThickSkin, Dundee Rep, Perth Theatre, Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, Bush Theatre, and video artist Rachel Maclean for Tate Galleries and Venice Biennale.
“He is a voice and creative centre who will continue to gain a profile across his homeland of Scotland, throughout the UK musical theatre industry and internationally.” (Musical Theatre Review)
