Ricky Ian Gordon | en

Ricky Ian Gordon was born on May 15, 1956 in Oceanside, NY and raised on Long Island. After studying composition at Carnegie Mellon University, he settled in New York City, where he quickly emerged as a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. Mr. Gordon’s songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others.

Recent productions of his work include:

2007: The Grapes of Wrath, a full-scale opera with libretto by Michael Korie, premiered at the Minnesota Opera in a production that then traveled to Utah Opera. Musical America called the work, “The great American opera,” and Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed wrote that: “…the greatest glory of the opera is Gordon’s ability to musically flesh out the entire 11-member Joad clan…Gordon’s other great achievement is to merge Broadway and opera… greatly enhanced by his firm control over ensembles and his sheer love for the operatic voice.” Future productions are scheduled at the Pittsburgh Opera (November, 2008), Opera Pacific (January, 2009), and a “Suite” from the opera will be premiered at Disney Hall in spring 2008 (May 18).

2005: Orpheus and Euridice, an hour-long song cycle in two acts, premiered at Lincoln Center. Directed and choreographed by Doug Varone and performed by Elizabeth Futral, Soprano, Todd Palmer, Clarinet and Melvin Chen, Piano, it won an OBIE Award and is recorded on Ghostlight Records and published by Carl Fischer Music. It will be given a new production at Long Beach Opera February of 2008, and Long Leaf Opera in North Carolina will reprise the Lincoln Center/Doug Varone production.

2003: My Life with Albertine, written with Richard Nelson and based on Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past premiered at New York’s Playwrights Horizons (recorded on PS Classics and published by Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music, AT&T Award).

2001: “Bright Eyed Joy: The Music of Ricky Ian Gordon,” was presented at Lincoln Center as part of the American Songbook Series. Stephen Holden, writing in the New York Times wrote of the work, “If the music of Ricky Ian Gordon had to be defined by a single quality, it would be the bursting effervescence in fusing songs that blithely blur the lines between art song and the high-end Broadway music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim…It’s caviar for a world gorging on pizza.” “Bright Eyed Joy” is recorded on Nonesuch Records with vocalists including Audra McDonald, Dawn Upshaw, and Adam Guettel.

Other works include, Dream True, written with Tina Landau and premiered in 1999 at The Vineyard Theater (recorded on PS Classics, Richard Rodgers Award, Jonathan Larson Foundation Award), and Only Heaven, based on the works of Langston Hughes and premiered in 1995 at Encompass Opera (recorded on PS Classics, and published by Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music). The Tibetan Book of the Dead, written with Jean Claude Van Itallie, premiered at the Houston Grand Opera in 1996 and, and Morning Star, written with William Hoffman which Mr. Gordon wrote for The Lyric Opera Of Chicago, where he was a composer in residence.

Mr. Gordon is the Composer-in Residence at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in the summer of ‘08, and he will premiere “Green Sneakers,” a new, hour-long song cycle for Baritone and String Quartet (Jesse Blumberg and The Miami String Quartet).

He is currently working on commissions for New York’s Metropolitan Opera and for the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Opera. Gordon is also writing new musicals for Playwrights Horizons and The Signature Theater in Arlington, Virginia.

His publications include four songbooks “A Horse With Wings,” “Genius Child,” “Only Heaven,” and “Finding Home,” all published by Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music and distributed by Hal Leonard. Hal Leonard also published two choral pieces, “Three By Langston,” and “We Will Always Walk Together,” Mr. Gordon’s arrangement of the final song from “Dream True,” which was premiered by Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Disney Hall. With Carl Fischer Music, he has published “Song For Our Time,” “Piano Pieces:The Piano Music of Ricky Ian Gordon,” “Orpheus and Euridice,” and “Late Afternoon,” a song cycle for Mezzo Soprano and Piano. Carl Fischer will also publish “The Grapes Of Wrath.”

As a teacher Mr. Gordon has taught both Master Classes and Composition Classes in Colleges and Universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Catholic, Bennington, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Elon, Michigan State, U of Michigan, and San Francisco Conservatory. He has been the featured Composer-in Residence at various festivals including The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Songfest at Pepperdine University, Chatauqua, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia.

Among his honors are the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie-Mellon University, the Shen Family Foundation award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, The Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, The Constance Klinsky Award, and many awards from ASCAP, of which he is a member, The National Endowment of the Arts, and The American Music Center. .