Ricky Ian Gordon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ricky Ian Gordon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ricky Ian Gordon |
| Born | May 15, 1956 Oceanside, NY, U.S. |
| Origin |  New York City, New York, United States |
| Genre(s) | Musical theatre |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, lyricist |
| Years active | 1956 – Present |
Ricky Ian Gordon (b. May 15, 1956) is an American stage musical composer and lyricist.
Contents |
[edit] Life and career
Gordon was born 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. Gordon’s songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovici, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others.
[edit] Recent productions
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.” Alex Ross, in The New Yorker wrote "Gordon, who first made his name in the theatre and as a composer of Broadway-style songs, fills his score with beautifully turned genre pieces, often harking back to American popular music of the twenties and thirties: Gershwinesque song-and-dance numbers, a few sweetly soaring love songs in the manner of Jerome Kern, banjo-twanging ballads, saxed-up jazz choruses, even a barbershop quartet. You couldn’t ask for a more comfortably appointed evening of vintage musical Americana. Yet, with a slyness worthy of Weill, Gordon wields his hummable tunes to critical effect..." Future productions are scheduled at the Pittsburgh Opera (November, 2008), Opera Pacific (January, 2009), and a “Suite” from the opera premiered at Disney Hall in spring 2008. Alan Rich wrote "Who Would Have Thought? Word was out, after performances in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, that Ricky Ian Gordon’s operatic setting of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath was some kind of near-masterpiece; there was Mark Swed’s near-ecstatic review to corroborate. I knew Ricky from lovable song collections and from the Orpheus and Euridice set in a Long Beach swimming pool a few months ago, lovable within reason. Steinbeck’s great humanitarian tragedy was another matter. For the Master Chorale Ricky prepared a “suite” from his opera, a 50-minute encapsulation with big choruses, some solos and enough stage action to tie everything together and preserve a likeness of both novel and opera. It was a terrific event, not merely a teaser for the Opera Pacific production of the actual opera, which happens next January, but a concert work with an integrity of its own. Incidentally Grant Gershon, the Master Chorale’s intrepid conductor, had also led the premiere performance at the Minnesota Opera."
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. Peter G. Davis, reviewing it for New York Magazine, wrote "Both Gordon’s text and music are couched in an accessible idiom of disarming lyrical directness, a cleverly disguised faux naïveté that always resolves dissonant situations with grace and a sure sense of dramatic effect—the mark of a born theater composer."
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 Morning Star, written with William Hoffman which Gordon wrote for Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he was a composer-in-residence.
Gordon is the Composer-in-Residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, Colorado, www.vailmusicfestival.org, 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 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 Corporation. Hal Leonard also published two choral pieces, “Three By Langston,” and “We Will Always Walk Together,” 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 “Songs Of 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.”
Among his other 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. Visit www.rickyiangordon.com
[edit] Discography
- The Grapes Of Wrath- An Opera by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie (2008) PS Classics
- Bright Eyed Joy: The Songs of Ricky Ian Gordon (2001) Nonesuch Records
- Only Heaven: A Musical Work by Ricky Ian Gordon Based on the Poetry of Langston Hughes (2002) PS Classics
- My Life with Albertine (2003 Original Off-Broadway Cast) (2003) PS Classics
- Dream True- Songs from the Off-Broadway Show, (2006) PS Classics
- Orpheus and Euridice (2007) Ghostlight Records
Also:
- "Cradle and All" on Audra McDonald's Build a Bridge (2006) (Nonesuch Records) and Jessica Molaskey's Make Believe (2004) (PS Classics)
- "Water Music/A Two Part Requiem" on Of Eternal Light, the BMG/Catalyst recording featuring Musica Sacra conducted by Richard Westenberg
- 4 Songs on Audra McDonald's Way Back To Paradise (1998) (Nonesuch Records)
- Genius Child:A Cycle of 10 Songs on poems of Langston Hughes-Harolyn Blackwell-on her "Strange Hurt" CD-RCA Victor
[edit] Bibliography
- Genius Child: 10 Songs for High Voice on Poems by Langston Hughes (1996) Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music
- A Horse With Wings: 21 Songs for Medium High Voice (1996) Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music
- Only Heaven: 17 Songs on poems by Langston Hughes (1997) Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music
- Orpheus and Euridice (2002) Carl Fischer Music
- Finding Home - The Songs of Ricky Ian Gordon (2003) Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music
- My Life With Albertine (2005) Vocal Score, Rodgers and Hammerstein/Williamson Music
- Songs of Our Time (2005)Carl Fischer Music
- Ricky Ian Gordon Piano Collection (2005) Carl Fischer Music
- Late Afternoon: 6 Songs for Mezzo Soprano (2007) Carl Fischer Music
- We Will Always Walk Together (2007) SATB Choral Arrangement by Composer, dist. by Hal Leonard
- Three By Langston (1998) SATB Choral Arrangements of Three Langston Hughes Settings, dist. by Hal Leonard
- Piano Collection (2005) Music for Solo Piano and Piano, Four Hands Carl Fischer Music
[edit] Awards and recognition
- Obie Award
- AT&T Award
- Richard Rogers Award
- Jonathan Larson Foundation Award
- Carnegie-Mellon University Alumni Merit Award (2003)
- Shen Family Foundation Award
- Stephen Sondheim Award
- Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award
- Constance Klinsky Award
- Multiple awards from:
