Henry Dewey Anderson

Anderson died from complications during surgery to replace a defibrillator, said his daughter, Katrin Jandrasits, of Wayne, Pa. He was 77.

Anderson was the general manager of the now-defunct Florida International Festival from 1991 until his retirement in 2002. Between 1985 and 2007, the LSO returned every other year as the headliner of the biennial event.

"Dewey was the festival manager who transformed the visit of the LSO into an international event," said Monya Gilbert, a London native who managed the festival from 1982 to 1987 and served as a volunteer during Anderson's tenure.

Anderson turned the event into "a living festival," Gilbert said. "He extended the range of the festival. It wasn't just LSO concerts after Dewey's arrival at the helm. He had a knack of finding unusual, interesting and entertaining artists who could draw a crowd.

"He had an amazing knowledge about music, musicians, composers, conductors and he knew everything about orchestras as well. Music was his passion and his joy."

Anderson grew up in Orlando and learned piano even though his French mother was a violinist. Anderson studied music at Rollins College in Winter Park, and earned a master's degree in composition from Northwestern University.

Drafted into the Army in 1957, he served in Europe as a chaplain's assistant -- which gave him the opportunity to attend concerts throughout the continent.

Back in the states in 1959 following his tour of duty, Anderson became involved with concert production. He interned with the American Symphony Orchestra League as an apprentice manager, and went on to manage symphonies in Wichita, Kan., San Antonio and New Jersey.

He then served as the development director of the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, where one of his assistants was David Newman.

In 1991, Anderson returned home to Orlando with no immediate job prospect, but Newman, who had taken on the job of general manager of the Florida International Festival in 1987, asked Anderson to help out at the festival box office. Soon after Anderson assumed the general manager's post.

"He was incredibly knowledgeable on both the musical side and the management side," said Newman, who currently teaches band and strings at a middle school in Durham, N.C. "He paid as much attention to the arts as anybody I've ever known. Even in retirement.

"In recent years he started writing reviews of things he had seen and would send them to a select list of us. It wasn't just classical this and classical that. He had a very broad range of interests. That's one of the things he said to me: 'I get up every morning with lots of things I want to know.' He was just a witty, intelligent, fun guy to talk to."

"We all owe him a great deal for his dedication and hard work in Daytona Beach," said Gilbert, a DeLand resident. "I know that the LSO regarded him with great respect and admiration for what he achieved during his long tenure as manager of the festival."

Anderson, an Orlando resident, also is survived by his brother, Harold Anderson, and grandson, Jack Anderson.

Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Gotha, Florida is in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.