Meet the Musicians: Jordan Anderson

By Andrew Stiefel

As a child growing up in Minnesota, Jordan Anderson knew he was going to be one of two things: a hockey player or a classical musician. “In high school, I started to realize that I wasn’t going to be a college hockey player, let alone a professional hockey player, so I decided to follow the bass route,” he laughs.

Today Jordan is Mr. & Mrs. Harold H. Heath Principal String Bass of the Seattle Symphony. “I won the position here during my senior year of college. I had zero professional experience, and I want to thank Jon Green and the entire section for being so supportive. I learned so much from them.”

When he’s not playing on stage, Jordan enjoys spending time with his wife, Angie, and two girls, Lulu and Miley. “We sing out loud in the car together when my kids are listening to Lizzo, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry. I just can’t help myself,” Jordan grins.

For a quiet escape, Jordan enjoys going fly fishing. Jordan says the process of casting and reeling is calm, even meditative. “You're always moving the fly, making it imitate some sort of natural flying pattern, floating through the air or landing in a drift so the fish sees it as an insect. You're making something come alive, and to do that with an incredible amount of finesse and being very light handed with your movement — you just get into the flow.”

Watching Jordan on stage at Benaroya Hall, you can glimpse that calm, practiced approach in his playing, too. After 20 years in the orchestra, Jordan says he still looks forward to every concert. “I’m so grateful to be on that stage, and I’m just so grateful that our audiences support us. The excitement, the thrill, of playing wouldn’t exist without them with us every week.”