Judith Gordon
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Judith Gordon (born 1963,
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
) is a concert pianist and educator.


Education

Gordon studied at
Oberlin Conservatory The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of t ...
and at
New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...
where she studied with Patricia Zander.


New York debut

Gordon gave her New York recital debut on May 27, 1990 at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
as part of the museum’s Introductions series.
Bernard Holland Bernard Holland (born 1933) is an American music critic. He served on the staff of '' The New York Times'' from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper. He then became the Nat ...
, reviewing for
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, wrote, "… Ms. Gordon does not have the dominating technique associated with major virtuosos, but she has character and she thinks." In 1996, Gordon was named the
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
Musician of the Year. The
Celebrity Series of Boston The Celebrity Series of Boston is a non-profit performing arts presenter established in Boston, Massachusetts by Boston impresario Aaron Richmond in 1938 as Aaron Richmond's Celebrity Series. Since its founding the Celebrity Series has evolved i ...
has presented Gordon frequently and she has performed regularly with
Emmanuel Music Emmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J. S. Bach in the liturgical setting for whic ...
. Her first Celebrity Series performance was part of the BankBoston Emerging Artist Series at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in a program which featured the world premiere of composer Martin Brody's eight-minute piece, ''(G) Corona'', which was composed for the recital. With Rob Kapilow she explored music of Beethoven and Debussy in his ''What Makes It Great?'' programs in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. Gordon has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops, the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose, its mission is to explore the connections between contemporary music and contemporary ...
, the
Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston is a musician-led American orchestra based in Newton, Massachusetts. It is one of only four co-operative orchestras in the US. It had a long-time association with composer and conductor Gunther Schuller, with I ...
, and the MIT Symphony.


Chamber music performance

Gordon has performed with a variety of musicians, including soprano
Lisa Saffer Lisa Saffer (born June 3, 1960) is a soprano singer of opera, particularly Bach, Handel and modern works. She also teaches voice at the New England Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory. Early life and education Saffer originates from ...
, mezzo-soprano Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (March 1, 1954 – July 3, 2006) was an American mezzo-soprano. She was noted for her performances of both Baroque era and contemporary works. Her career path to becoming a singer was unconventional – formerly a pro ...
, tenor William Hite, and baritone James Maddalena; cellists Andres Diaz, Rhonda Rider, and
Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
; violists James Dunham,
Cynthia Phelps Cynthia Phelps (born 1961 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York Ph ...
, Marcus Thompson, and Roger Tapping; violinists Rose Mary Harbison and Andrew Kohji Taylor; and oboist Douglas Boyd. She has also performed with the following ensembles:
Imani Winds Imani Winds is an American wind quintet based in New York City, United States. The group was founded by flutist Valerie Coleman in 1997 and is known for its adventurous and diverse programming, which includes both established and newly composed wo ...
; the Jacques Thibaud String Trio; the Arianna String Quartet,
Borromeo String Quartet The Borromeo String Quartet is an American string quartet, in residence at the New England Conservatory since 1992. They have performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at numerous festivals and in many distinguished chamber mu ...
, Lydian String Quartet, and
St. Lawrence String Quartet The St. Lawrence String Quartet is a Canadians, Canadian string quartet, and one of Canada's premier chamber ensembles. The Quartet was founded in 1989 and has served residencies at the Juilliard School, Yale University, the University of Toront ...
; the
Boston Chamber Music Society The Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, Massachusetts and dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present da ...
,
Collage New Music Collage New Music is a classical music ensemble specialising in performance of works by 20th- and 21st-century composers. It was founded in 1972 by percussionist Frank Epstein who served as its Music Director until 1991. Since that time its Directo ...
, and Santa Fe New Music. In a 1998 profile, Boston Globe classical music critic
Richard Dyer Richard Dyer (born 1945) is an English academic who held a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. Specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment ...
quoted Gordon as saying, "Some of the most beautiful colors and textures on the piano emerge when you're not playing alone."


Collaborations with composers

Gordon has worked with or had music written for her by Martin Brody,
Peter Child Peter Burlingham Child (born 6 May 1953) is an American composer, teacher, and musical analyst. He is Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic. Educat ...
, Alan Fletcher,
John Harbison John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works. Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harb ...
, David Horne,
Lee Hyla Lee Hyla (August 31, 1952 – June 6, 2014) was an American classical music composer from Niagara Falls, New York. He received the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment ...
,
Libby Larsen Elizabeth Brown Larsen (born December 24, 1950) is a contemporary American classical composer. Along with composer Stephen Paulus, she is a co-founder of the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum. A former holder of the Pa ...
, and
Peter Lieberson Peter Goddard Lieberson (25 October 1946 – 23 April 2011) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. His song cycles include two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Music: '' Rilke Songs'' and ''Neruda Songs''; the latter won t ...
.


Teaching

Gordon has taught piano at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, and served on the jury at the
Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition The Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition is the largest and oldest continuous chamber music competition in the United States. In 1973, Joseph E. Fischoff and fellow members of the South Bend Chamber Music Society established a competition to ...
. She performs and teaches at chamber music festivals including the Cape Cod (Massachusetts)
Charlottesville
(Virginia), Innsbrook (Missouri)
Rockport
(Massachusetts), Portland (Maine), Santa Fe (New Mexico), Spoleto USA (South Carolina), and Token Creek (Wisconsin) Festivals and
Music from Salem {{inline, date=February 2023 Music from Salem is a chamber music festival in Washington County, New York. Founded in 1985 by violist Lila Brown and violinist Judith Eissenberg. The festival features a summer concert series at the historic Hubbard ...
(New York), where she is a co-artistic director. Gordon is an Associate Professor of Music at
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
in
Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...
. Washington, D.C.


References


External links


Hear Judith Gordon live in concert
from WGBH Radio Boston
Judith Gordon's faculty page
at Smith College
Music from Salem
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Judith 1963 births Living people Musicians from Baltimore New England Conservatory alumni Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni Smith College faculty 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists American women academics