Long Island native Ricky Ian Gordon studied piano, composition and acting at Carnegie Mellon University before settling 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 recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Nicole Cabell, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica von Stade, Nadine Sierra, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell and Betty Buckley, among many others.
Most recently, his new opera This House, commissioned for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 50th anniversary season with librettists Lynn Nottage and Ruby Gerber, premiered to rave reviews, with Opera Magazine declaring it “a work that should take a canonical position in American drama and music.” Additionally, his Huit Chansons de Fleurs, written for soprano Erin Morley, was released on a new Orchid Classic recording and premiered at the Kennedy Center, and his Marvin Gaye Songs, commissioned by the Tucson Song Festival, recently premiered at Carnegie Hall.
This season, productions of Gordon’s work can be seen at Cincinnati Opera (Orpheus and Euridice), as well as Opera Company of Middlebury and Kentucky University (Rappahannock County). Upcoming commissions include song orchestrations for the University of Illinois and a highly anticipated new work for The Atlanta Opera.
Other recent productions of his operas include The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (New York City Opera/National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, lib. Michael Korie); Intimate Apparel (Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater, lib. Lynn Nottage), Ellen West (Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Saratoga, lib. Frank Bidart), The House Without a Christmas Tree (Houston Grand Opera), 27 (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Montreal and Opera Montana, lib. Royce Vavrek), Morning Star (Cincinnati Opera, OnSite Opera, lib. William Hoffman), A Coffin in Egypt (Houston Grand Opera, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Philadelphia and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, lib. Leonard Foglia), Rappahannock County (Virginia Opera, lib. Mark Campbell), Green Sneakers (Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Bay Chamber Festival, Opera Birmingham and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon), The Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Anchorage Opera, Disney Hall and Carnegie Hall, lib. Michael Korie), The Tibetan Book of The Dead (Houston Grand Opera, Eastman School of Music and Opera Grand Rapids, lib. Jean Claude van Itallie) and Orpheus and Euridice (Lincoln Center [OBIE Award], Pittsburgh Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Minnesota Dance Theater and Vermont Opera Project, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon). His award-winning musicals include Sycamore Trees, My Life with Albertine and Dream True.
Gordon’s works are published by Presser Music, Carl Fischer Music, Williamson Music, and Hal Leonard and are available everywhere; they are also widely recorded on various labels. His memoir Seeing Through: A Chronicle of Sex, Drugs, and Opera was released in July of 2024. rickyiangordon.com