Ricky Ian Gordon on Memory, Mourning, and Music
Ricky Ian Gordon on Composing Through Collapse - from Trumpism to Tornadoes
When I sat down with composer Ricky Ian Gordon in St. Louis over Zoom this spring, I didn’t expect our conversation to detour through a tornado, a lament for print music, and a searing indictment of America’s cultural priorities.
But Gordon, a towering figure in contemporary opera, has a gift for finding poetry in devastation. I was introduced to Gordon by Audible founder Donald Katz’s amazing book, Home Fires. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever heard. It’s the story of Gordon’s family, growing up, on Long Island, where I also grew up.
The day after his birthday, May 16, a tornado ripped through St. Louis.
Gordon had just wrapped a rehearsal.
"They ran in and said, “Put your instruments down! Run downstairs!" he told me. "Kevin, my partner, and my dog, were at the hotel. And it was bad… No power anywhere. The poor park was ripped to shreds."
That moment, absurd and terrifying, became an entry point into a deeper conversation about the state of opera, art, and memory in 2025 and what it means to keep creating while institutions crumble.
The Disappearing Infrastructure of Criticism
Gordon doesn’t mince words about the economic landscape of theater and opera.
"Every company has less money. Everyone’s endowments are down. The Metropolitan Opera had to take $40 million out of their endowment. That is not good."
He’s equally blunt about media.
"There is no music criticism in this town," he says of St. Louis. "I had to hire a press person. It cost like $900 a month."
Printed music?
"Dying…" he says.
But he still insists on publishing every work.
"It means so much to me that I don’t care whether it sells or not."
On Memory, Grief, and Writing As Tribute
From Morning Star to Green Sneakers, Gordon’s work is a sustained act of elegy. He sets Jewish prayers like Kaddish to music. He writes operas for those he’s lost: his partner, his sisters, his parents.
"That’s the gift of being a writer," he tells me. "You get to build a container, a living memorial to all you have loved and all you have lost."
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s architecture.
And in a time of collapsing civic institutions, memory itself becomes resistance.
Opera as Accessible Ritual
Despite the genre’s reputation, Gordon insists opera is not inherently elitist.
When I showed my son an excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath, he was stunned that opera could be (wait for it) in English.
Gordon laughed. "If you had been my father and I was 10 and you bought me the Grapes of Wrath, you would have changed my life."
His starter kit for newcomers to opera? His Grapes of Wrath, Britten’s Peter Grimes, and Barber’s Vanessa. Gordon says that if you really want to get into opera, that’s where to begin.
Fundraising in the Ruins
One of the rawest moments came when Gordon talked about begging for money.
"Much of my life is slightly degrading myself to beg for money," he said.
He's raising funds for recordings of Sycamore Trees and Morning Star.
"That will be much more money because that’s the full Cincinnati Orchestra."
We talked Patreon. We talked strategy. We sketched a plan to reach wealthy arts patrons via Substack and direct email. Just like fund managers reach out to LPs to fundraise, it’s something that even the best composers of the past two or three generations must do, in order to see their works be presented in a truly brilliant light.
What He Tells the Next Generation
If you’re 22, graduating into Trump-era America with a BFA in theatre or music, what should you do?
Gordon doesn’t hesitate.
"Access your inner life. Use your art to better the world. Be useful."
In Part Two of our conversation, we get into Gordon’s early crate-digging habits, his most formative collaborations, and what foreign film taught him about telling stories on stage.
Coming Soon: Part Two — Ricky Ian Gordon on Influence, Obsession, and the Search for the Sublime.
🔗 Related: Mike Maples on Betting Big
Part One of our interview with Mike Maples. In this piece, he argues that only grand slams matter. No base hits. No safe plays. Just bold bets with the power to reshape the world.
That’s exactly what Ricky Ian Gordon is doing with opera.
In a market where the middle’s collapsing, and there’s no critics, cash, or guarantees, Gordon’s still raising, still composing and still betting on beauty. Like Maples’ ideal founder, he’s not playing the odds. He’s playing for legacy.
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