Ricky Ian Gordon (born May 15, 1956) is an American composer of

art song An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

Life

Gordon was born in

Oceanside, New York Oceanside is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the southern part of the town of Hempstead (town), New York, Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 32,109 at the 2010 census. ...

. He was raised by his mother, Eve, and father, Sam, and he grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

with his three sisters, Susan, Lorraine and Sheila. Donald Katz based his book, '' Home Fires: An Intimate Portrait of One Middle-Class Family in Postwar America'', on Gordon's family life. Gordon attended

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Work

The death of his lover from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

inspired ''Dream True'' (1998), ''Orpheus and Euridice'' (2005) and the song cycle ''Green Sneakers for Baritone, String Quartet, Empty Chair and Piano'' (2007). He has composed several operas and had his music performed by Audra McDonald,

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

, Todd Palmer and others.Rule, Doug
''Short Rounds''
''

Metro Weekly ''Metro Weekly'' is a free weekly magazine for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community in Washington, D.C., United States. It was first published on May 5, 1994. ''Metro Weekly'' includes national and local news, intervi ...

'', March 31, 2011. In 1992 Gordon set ten of

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

's poems to music for Harolyn Blackwell. In February 2007, Gordon's opera, ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

'', premiered in Saint Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The opera was co-commissioned and co-produced by the

Minnesota Opera Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill ...

and the Utah Symphony & Opera. In 2011 he wrote the music for ''Rappahannock County'', a staged revue of twenty one songs about the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival. In 2003, he wrote a musical based on selections from '' The Remembrance of Things Past'' by

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

. It was titled '' My Life with Albertine'' and featured

Kelli O'Hara Kelli Christine O'Hara (born April 16, 1976) is an American actress and singer, most known for her work on the Broadway and opera stages. An eight-time Tony Award nominee, O'Hara won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her perfor ...

in her first starring role. He was commissioned by the

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the ...

for what became '' 27'' (2014), an opera about

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

and Alice B. Toklas and their life at 27 rue de Fleurus, as a work to star mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe.

Royce Vavrek Royce Vavrek is a Canadian-born Brooklyn-based librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theatre writer and filmmaker known for his collaborations with composers David T. Little, Missy Mazzoli, Mikael Karlsson (composer), Mikael Karlsson, ...

wrote the libretto. The piece made its New York premiere on Oct. 20, 2016. In 2010, he released an album called ''A Horse With Wings'' in which he sang a collection of his art songs. In 2014 his opera '' A Coffin in Egypt'' had its world premiere at the Houston Grand Opera. He premiered his opera '' Morning Star'' at Cincinnati Opera in 2015. This opera follows a

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

family that immigrates to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1910. Gordon's opera ''The House Without a Christmas Tree'' had its world premiere at the Houston Grand Opera on November 30, 2017. The world premiere of Gordon's '' The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' opened in January 2022. It is a co-production between National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

. His newest opera was, again, commissioned by the

. ''This House'', opening May 31, 2025, is about the Walker family and their life in a Harlem brownstone since the 1920s. Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber wrote the libretto.

Assessment

Gordon's songwriting is steeped in the traditions of cabaret and musical theater, while his choice of themes has been idiosyncratic. ''Green Sneakers for Baritone, String Quartet, Empty Chair and Piano'' has been described as "a significant contribution to the culture sprung from the AIDS crisis", notable for its elegiac quality as well as its restraint. His opera ''

'', based on the novel by

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

, has been cited for achieving "instant success that is rare for an American opera."

References

External links

*
Ricky Ian Gordon's page at Carl FischerRicky Ian Gordon's page at Theodore Presser Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Ricky Ian American musical theatre composers American male musical theatre composers American opera composers American male opera composers 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers Living people 1956 births Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni People from Oceanside, New York Musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians LGBTQ classical composers