RICKY IAN GORDON

HELLO FRIENDS!! I hope you had a good weekend! This past Wednesday I was in attendance of a recital dedicated to the music of Ricky Ian Gordon. At first, I wasn't sure why we had an entire recital designed for one composer, but then I walked into the recital hall and met... RICKY IAN GORDON. I'm only really familiar with his opera, The Grapes of Wrath. (The opera is very good if you're interested in something to see.) 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, Nathan Gunn, Kelli O'Hara, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Nicole Cabell, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others. Basically, he's really cool. I wasn't too excited to go to a recital, but I was thrilled once I sat in the audience. I was tired and didn't really want to sit through a long concert, but fortunately, the recital was splendid. I am not sure I have ever cried as much during a program than when I was listening to his music. He sets poems to music. Some of the poets he used were ee. cummings and Langston Hughes. The singers made beautiful music and expressed the text perfectly. My favorite song that was sung was 'Girl With 'Cello' the text by May Sarton. Look it up... It truly is amazing. The concert ended and Ricky Ian Gordon blessed is with an encore. He sat at the piano and sang a new song for us. It was definitely a highlight of my summer. Perks of Chautauqua? Meeting famous people. :)