DAVID GORDON - singer / guitarist / historian / storyteller
Described by the Washington Post as “a model of style and charm, and an irresistible performer,” tenor David Gordon has forged a unique international career as singer, teacher, lecturer, author, and recording artist.
David is a life-long troubadour whose compelling voice, keen sense of drama, and wacky humor have charmed audiences worldwide. His international performing career reaches from Bach to country music, from grand opera to jazz, from Mozart to to Fats Waller.
David began performing with acoustic guitar in 1960 and never stopped, despite his four-decade detour into classical music. Throughout his opera and concert career, David has enjoyed a parallel life as a self-accompanied solo musician. He's especially known for his narrated programs of thought-provoking and uplifting songs from more than a century of great songwriters.
Acoustic Music Links:
Concert Audio • Video Clips
A LIFE IN CLASSICAL MUSIC
Following his professional concert debut in 1970, David appeared as tenor soloist with virtually every major North American symphony orchestra, and with other prestigious orchestras and music festivals on four continents. View his performing credits here.
On the operatic stage David portrayed sixty principal roles with the Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera (Kennedy Center), the Hamburg Staatsoper and other companies. View David's opera credits here.
A specialist in the difficult vocal music of J. S. Bach, David has been described as "one of the world's great Bach tenors" by the Chicago Tribune. He has appeared at all major North American Bach Festivals, and at Bach festivals in Europe, South America, and Japan. David was a central and popular figure at the Carmel Bach Festival in California for 30 seasons as performer, lecturer, Dramaturge, historian and master class director.
David is also a prolific recording artist and appears on 17 classical CDs for RCA Red Seal, Decca, London, Telarc, Dorian, Vox and other labels. View his discography here.
Listen to classical music audio excerpts.
A LIFE IN BOOKS
An avid historian and researcher, David is the author of The Little Bach Book (2017), a richly illustrated study of J.S. Bach's daily life and the gritty reality of the everyday world around him in early-18th Century Germany.
David also wrote Carmel Impresarios (2014), the cultural biography of the two extraordinary women who helped establish the world of music, art and theater in early Carmel, California.
David lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife, novelist Ginna B.B. Gordon. Together they keep busy helping independent authors turn ideas into books. Visit them at Lucky Valley Press.