Biography

Kenji Anderson (倉林 健児) is Japanese-American teacher, pianist, and writer based in Tokyo, Japan. He is originally from Emporia, Kansas.

In 2023-2024, Anderson was a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Yakage-cho, Japan, in Okayama prefecture. Through the Yakage Town Hall, he taught English to preschoolers and elementary school students in school and library settings. While in Yakage, he collaborated with the Okayama-based jazz collective BaOLA to present a recital at Yakage’s Taniyama Salon.

He recently graduated from the Oberlin College and Conservatory double-degree program, receiving a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in English. At Oberlin Conservatory, he studied under Robert Shannon.

Kenji writes at the intersection of literature and music. Recently, through his thesis on composer Matthew Aucoin’s operatic adaptation of Sarah Ruhl’s play Eurydice, he combined modes of musical and literary analysis, inviting a new understanding of the operatic form. He has published his writing through Oberlin campus publications and WCLV Ideastream Public Media in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dedicated to the community-building powers of classical music, he has collaborated with instrumentalists, vocalists, dancers, and composers on creative projects. His work explores the boundaries of genre, often setting popular and classical music side-by-side. 

All color photography of Kenji by Genevieve Dilan, unless stated otherwise.

All black and white photography of Kenji by Owen Do, unless stated otherwise.