Jen Anderson
photo by Leigh McKenzie
a short bio..
Jen has earned an international reputation as a composer and improvising violinist. With a strong classical training background and many years of professional performance improvising with numerous bands, she has also composed music for film, television, theatre and dance.
Jen has enjoyed national success with her score and live performance of string quartet music to the silent film ‘Pandora’s Box’, and further national and international success with her score for the silent film ‘the Sentimental Bloke’. Jen and her band the Larrikins accompanied the screening of the film at several prestigious screen events including the London International Film Festival, Pordenone Silent film Festival (Italy), Telluride Film Festival (Colorado USA), Tokyo Film Festival (Japan) and Chungmuro Film Festival (Seoul, Korea).
As a composer for film and television her many credits include ABLAZE (documentary feature film, 2021) THE SHOW MUST GO ON (documentary 2019), HUNT ANGELS (documentary feature film) THE GODDESS OF 1967, SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S BABIES (ABC television mini-series), and the silent movies PANDORA’S BOX and THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE
As a live performer on violin Jen has toured and recorded with many of Australia’s best known rock, folk and country artists, including the Black Sorrows (89-93), Weddings Parties Anything (93-98), Tim Rogers (You Am I), Tiddas, Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, and the Waifs.
She has produced and/or engineered albums for Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Tim Rogers and The Waifs, along with five CDs of her own work; THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE (silent film score highlights) PANDORAS BOX, (silent film score highlights - string quartet), SEEK (pop EP), SILENT CATALYST, (instrumental piano and violin music), and THE GODDESS OF 1967 (soundtrack for feature film). She has also released a recording of the full length score of Pandora’s Box on DVD.
For the past 10 years Jen has expanded her musical interests, working with people from a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds, resulting in projects such as recording a CD of traditional songs with Sudanese refugee women in Melbourne (‘Old songs in a New Country’), and workshopping hip hop songs with young indigenous women in the East Kimberley region of WA.
For more info, check out the CV