Composer and viola player Ian Anderson has worked directly with artists such as Anoushka Shankar, jazz guitar legend Lee Ritenour, and acclaimed electronic artist and poet Moor Mother. He is a member of many different ensembles, including Scottish Ballet (where he holds the position of Principal Viola), Wooden Elephant (extended string quintet which reimagines classic electronic-based popular music albums as contemporary classical concert works), yllwshrk (alternative/electronic rock, ‘yellow shark’, and Berlin-based contemporary string quartet Sonar Quartett.
Ian arranged Anoushka Shankar’s album Chapter III: We Return to Light for Shankar’s BBC Prom on 12th August 2025, where she performed her trilogy of mini albums with Robert Ames and the London Contemporary Orchestra. Also for the BBC Proms, Ian has contributed arrangements for Jordan Rakei and Jade, both with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Ian’s music has been soundtracked by AppleTV+ and Netflix, and has been performed by orchestras including Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, BBC Concert Orchestra, Komische Oper Berlin, Beethovenorchester Bonn, and members of Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In 2026 Ian reworked David Bowie’s last ever album Blackstar for Stuttgart Kammerorchester and jazz guitar legend Lee Ritenour for Stuttgart Jazz Festival – the second half of the concert comprising highlights from across Bowie’s career.
For the 24-25 Season, Ian was Artist in Residence of the Norwegian chamber ensemble, Munor, for whom he wrote the piano trio Marina’s Book of Munor, Vols. I & II – a set of 20 cross-genre miniatures inspired by The Marina Abramovic Method: Instruction Cards to Reboot Your Life.
Ian has fixed recording sessions for artists such as Grammy winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, electronic artist Oneohtrix Point Never, and film composer Freya Arde. He has acted as viola consultant for actor Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin, Black Adam) on his upcoming film Any Other Night.
He is also a regular performer with the London Contemporary Orchestra, with whom he has appeared on albums such as Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Thom Yorke’s Anima and Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, and The Smile’s Wall of Eyes and A Light for Attracting Attention.
Ian is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London (James Sleigh, undergraduate viola, First-Class Honours), and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow (David Fennessy, postgraduate composition).
WOODEN ELEPHANT
In 2021 Wooden Elephant released their first album, LANDSCAPES, KNIVES & GLUE — Radiohead’s Kid A Recycled on Backlash Music, which was featured as an Apple Music Top 10 Album and described by them as “an extraordinarily inventive and imaginative reinterpretation, an aural tour de force”.
In 2022, Wooden Elephant collaborated with Moor Mother and Beethovenorchester Bonn to creating a concert version of Moor Mother’s album Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes. Also in 2022, Wooden Elephant collaborated with Ballett am Rhein, creating a ballet to SOPHIE’s OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES with choreographer Gil Harush.
Wooden Elephant were commissioned by Verbier Festival UNLTD to reimagine Miles Davis’ groundbreaking album In a Silent Way for string quintet and electronics (electronics provided by London-based composer and producer Ben Corrigan) to mark the jazz legend’s centenary. The album was premiered at Verbier Festival 2026.
Wooden Elephant have also performed at venues and festivals such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Philharmonie de Paris’ Days Off Festival, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival.
yllwshrk
In October 2020 yllwshrk released their debut album I AM ALADDIN, produced by Grammy winner David Donaldson (Ray, 2004), and featuring collaborations with the London Contemporary Orchestra, Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition winners the Maxwell String Quartet, folk singer-songwriter Hannah Read, Mercury-nominated jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie, Andi Toma from Mouse on Mars, saxophonist Nick Roth, and composer Linda Buckley. I AM ALADDIN received 4 stars from The Scotsman newspaper, with the description “audacious debut… ravishing vocals”, and was described by influential music blog Record of the Day as “the sonic soundscapes of Radiohead meet the creative genius of Bowie’s Blackstar album”. The opening track of the album, Smudge, was recently featured in the 2024 Netflix feature film Little Wing, starring Succession’s Brian Cox. The music video of their single Pyramids — starring BBC’s inaugural The Greatest Dancer winner Ellie Fergusson — won Best Music Video at the 2020 Paris Short Film Awards.
DUO VAN VLIET
For 10 years Ian was a member of viola and accordion duo, Duo van Vliet, along with accordionist Rafal Luc. In 2017 they released their debut album Lachrymae ReVisited on Orchid Classics. The album made a shortlist of three for Recording of the Year at the 2018 New Music Scotland Awards, alongside James MacMillan with Britten Sinfonia and The Sixteen, and Peter Maxwell Davies with the Hebrides Ensemble. Also in 2017, Duo van Vliet gave the Polish premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s Double Concerto for viola, accordion and chamber ensemble with the OMN New Music Orchestra in Katowice.
Ian is a former Principal Viola of the European Union Youth Orchestra, and plays on a 2003 John Dilworth viola.