Joachim Andersen

Today, Joachim Andersen is especially remembered for his concert études for solo flute. There are no fewer than seven collections, each containing 24 études, as well as a couple of extra collections with 18 studies each. This musical treasure constitutes, nowadays, an indispensable core in a flautist’s development of both their musical and technical skills.

In his time, Andersen was a central figure in mid-European musical life: he was a founder member of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he worked as conductor and as a highly regarded solo flautist. He formed close friendships with leading figures like Tchaikovsky, Anton Rubinstein and Hans von Bülow, and in Paris he became known as ‘the Chopin of the Flute’, evidencing Andersen’s remarkable status in the city.

Joachim Andersen’s career both began and ended with the Tivoli Orchestra in Copenhagen, today known as the Copenhagen Phil: first as an assistant to his father, the flautist Christian Joachim Andersen (1816–1899) and later in his career as conductor and artistic leader of the Tivoli Orchestra (1898–1909).