COLLEGE OF MUSIC
SERIES:
“
An
Evening of Songs by Ricky Ian Gordon ”
featuring performances by students from the FSU College of Music
Thursday, October 23, 2025 Seven-thirty in the Evening Longmire Recital Hall
PROGRAM
Souvenir Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956)
Kylie Painter, soprano
Augusto Barbieri, piano
Is It Too Late from My Life with Albertine
Wild Swans
Madison Roths, soprano
Augusto Barbieri, piano
Anna Low, soprano
Augusto Barbieri, piano
Fried Dough from The Grapes of Wrath
Leah Shewmaker, mezzo soprano
Dain Lee, piano
A Word for this Old Man from The Grapes of Wrath
Lana Turner Has Collapsed
Graham Brooks, tenor
Dain Lee, piano
— Short Break —
Kylie Painter, soprano
Emma Anderson, piano
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting while performers are playing. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Please turn off cell phones and all other electronic devices. Please refrain from putting feet on seats and seat backs. Children who become disruptive should be taken out of the performance hall so they do not disturb the musicians and other audience members.
The More Loving One
Hope Goodman, soprano
Emma Anderson, piano
All I Ever Known from Rappahannock County
Jasmine Merriweather, soprano
Emma Anderson, piano
Girl With Cello
I Can’t Tell You from The Grapes of Wrath
Caitlin Ecuyer, soprano
Chima Enwere, piano
The Red Dress
Paul Niu, baritone
Chima Enwere, piano
— Short Break —
Meg Schiliro, soprano
Lujie Wang, piano
I Never Knew from The AIDS Quilt Songbook
Sebastian Quintero, baritone
Lujie Wang, piano
What the Living Do from Rappahannock County
Alissa D’Alton, mezzo soprano
Jiaqiu Song, piano
Home of the Brave
DaSean Stokes, tenor
Jiaqiu Song, piano
Ricky Ian Gordon was born on May 15, 1956, in Oceanside, NY and raised on Long Island. After studying piano, composition, and acting 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. Gordon’s songs have been performed and/or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Nicole Cabell, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Nadine Sierra, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others.
Stephen Holden, writing in The New York Times wrote of the work, “If the music of Ricky Ian Gordon had to be defined by a single quality, it would be the bursting effervescence in fusing songs that blithely blur the lines between art song and the high-end Broadway music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim…It’s caviar for a world gorging on pizza.”
Recent productions of his operas include The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (New York City Opera/Yiddish 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 St Louis, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Montreal, and Intermountain Opera in 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 musicals include Sycamore Trees (Signature Theatre, playwright Nina Mankin, Helen Hayes Award); My Life with Albertine (Playwrights Horizons, playwright Richard Nelson, AT&T Award, Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Music Theater Foundation Award); and Dream True (Vineyard Theatre, playwright Tina Landau, Richard Rodgers Award).
Recent commissions include This House, a new opera for Opera Theater of St. Louis’ 50th anniversary season in 2025 with librettists Lynn Nottage and Ruby Gerber. His Huit Chansons de Fleurs, written for soprano Erin Morley, was released on a new Orchid Classic recording, and premiered at the Kennedy Center, May 13, 2024, and his Marvin Gaye Songs, commissioned by the Tucson Song Festival for baritone Justin Austin, using poems by Vievee Francis, recently premiered at Carnegie Hall, March 5, 2024.
As a teacher Gordon has taught both Masterclasses and Composition Classes in Colleges and Universities throughout the country including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Catholic, Bennington, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Elon, Michigan State, University of Michigan, Point Park (McGinnis Distinguished Lecturer) Texas Lutheran University, Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Texas Christian University, and San Francisco Conservatory.
He has been the featured Composer-in-Residence at various festivals including Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, The Van Cliburn Foundation, Voices of Change, Santa Fe Song Festival, Songfest at Pepperdine University, Chautauqua, Aspen Music Festival, and Ravinia. In 2018, he was the commencement speaker at the University of Michigan.
Other honors include the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie-Mellon University, A Shen Family Foundation Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, The Constance Klinsky Award, and many awards from ASCAP, of which he is a member, The National Endowment of the Arts, and The American Music Center.
Gordon’s works are published by Presser Music, Carl Fischer Music, Williamson Music, and Hal Leonard and are available everywhere. His works are also widely recorded on various labels.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL ASSOCIATES
2025-2026
Dean’s Circle
Les and Ruth Ruggles Akers
Dr. Pamela T. Brannon
Richard Dusenbury and Kathi Jaschke
CarolAline Flaumenhaft
Joyce Andrews
Louie and Avon Doll
Patrick and Kathy Dunnigan
Kevin and Suzanne Fenton
Andrew and Karen Hoyt
Alexander and Dawn Jiménez
Jim Lee
Paula and Bill Smith
Margaret Van Every
Gold Circle
Albert and Darlene Oosterhof
Bob Parker
Todd and Kelin Queen
Karen and Francis C. Skilling
David and Jane Watson
Bret Whissel
Sustainer
Stan and Tenley Barnes
Kathryn M. Beggs
Karen Bradley
Steve and Pat Brock
Suzi and Scott Brock
Brian Causseaux and David Young
James Clendinen
Mary and Glenn Cole
Carol J. Cooper
Sandy and Jim Dafoe
F. Marshall Deterding and Dr. Kelley Lang
Diane and Jack Dowling
Aaron and Caroline Ellis
John S. and Linda H. Fleming
Joy and James Frank
William Fredrickson and Suzanne Rita Byrnes
Ruth Godfrey-Sigler
Michael and Marsha Hartline
Ken Hays
Melanie Hines and Dudley Witney
Dottie and Jon Hinkle
Todd S. Hinkle
The Jelks Family Foundation, Inc.
Emory and Dorothy Johnson
Gregory and Margo Jones
Anne van Meter and Howard Kessler
Dennis G. King, Esq.
William and Susan Leseman
Annelise Leysieffer
Linda and Bob Lovins
William and Gayle Manley
Robert and Patty McDonald
Marian and Walter Moore
Ann W. Parramore
Almena and Brooks Pettit
David and Joanne Rasmussen
Edward Reid
Mark and Carrie Renwick
Stephen and Elizabeth Richardson
Lawrence and Lisa Rubin
Patrick J. Sheehan
Dr. James and Ruth Anne Stevens
Richard Stevens and Ron Smith
Sustainer cont’d
Marshall and Nell Stranburg
William and Ma’Su Sweeney
Martin Kavka and Tip Tomberlin
Steve Moore Watkins and Karen Sue Brown
Stan Whaley and Brenda McCarthy
Kathy D. Wright
Mary S. Bert
Joe and Susan Berube
Marcia and Carl Bjerregaard
Greg and Karen Boebinger
Larry and Sara Bourdeau
David and Carol Brittain
Dean and Lyndsey Caulkins
Bonnie and Pete Chamlis
Malcolm A. Craig
Linda Davey
Rochelle Davis
Judith Flanigan
Bonnie Fowler, Armor Realty
L. Kathryn Funchess
Harvey and Judy Goldman
Jerry and Bobbi Hill
Sally and Dr. Link Jarrett
Judith H. Jolly
Arline Kern
Jonathan Klepper and Jimmy Cole
Elna Kuhlmann
Keith Ledford
Patron
Donna Legare
Joan Macmillan
Patrick Malone
Victoria Martinez
Stephen Mattingly
Ann and Don Morrow
Joel and Diana Padgett
Karalee Poschman
Mary Anne J. Price
Magda Sanchez
Jill Sandler
Paula S. Saunders
Jeanette Sickel
Susan Sokoll
George Sweat
Ed Valla
Scott and LaDonna Wagers
Sylvia B. Walford
Diana Wang
Geoffrey and Simone Watts
Natalie Zierden
Patricia C. Applegate
Sarah and John Bender
The Boyett Family
Judy and Brian Buckner
Kasia Bugaj and J. Renato Pinto
Robby Bukovic
Darren and Peyton Cassels
Marian Christ
Katie and Daniel Elliott
Sarah Eyerly
Cynthia Foster
Gene and Deborah Glotzbach
Sue Graham
Laura Gayle Green
Miriam Gurniak
Donna H. Heald
Carla Connors and Timothy Hoekman
Jane A. Hudson
Jayme and Tom Ice
Stephanie Iliff
William and DeLaura Jones
Jane Kazmer
Paige McKay Kubik
Joe Lama
Jane LeGette
Eric Lewis
Dr. Lynne Y. Lummel
Cindy Malaway
Lealand and Kathleen McCharen
Dr. Linda Miles
Drs. Linda O’Neil and Sebastian Alston
Becky Parsons
Michelle Peaceman
William and Rebecca Peterson
Adrian and Rachel Puente
Sanford A. Safron
Lori and Charles Smith
Sudarat Songsiridej and Mary Schaad
Susan Stephens
Allison Taylor
C. Richard and Phrieda L. Tuten
Steve Urse
Janie W. Weis
Karen Wensing
Lifetime Members
Willa Almlof
Florence Helen Ashby
Mrs. Reubin Askew
Tom and Cathy Bishop
Nancy Bivins
Ramona D. Bowman
André and Eleanor Connan
Russell and Janis Courson
J.W. Richard Davis
Ginny Densmore
Carole Fiore
Patricia J. Flowers
Hilda Hunter
Julio Jiménez
Kirby W. and Margaret-Ray Kemper
Patsy Kickliter
Anthony M. Komlyn
Fred Kreimer
Beverly Locke-Ewald
Cliff and Mary Madsen
Ralph and Sue Mancuso
Meredith and Elsa L. McKinney
Ermine M. Owenby
Mike and Judy Pate
Laura and Sam Rogers
Dr. Louis St. Petery
Sharon Stone
Donna C. Tharpe
Brig. Gen. and Mrs. William B. Webb
Rick and Joan West
John L. and Linda M. Williams
Sallie and Duby Ausley
Beethoven & Company
Corporate Sponsors
Ron Erichson/Beth Frederick
Business Sponsors
WFSU Public Broadcast Center
The University Musical Associates is the community support organization for the FSU College of Music. The primary purposes of the group are to develop audiences for College of Music performances, to assist outstanding students in enriching their musical education and careers, and to support quality education and cultural activities for the Tallahassee community. If you would like information about joining the University Musical Associates, please contact Kim Shively, Director of Special Programs, at kshively@fsu.edu or 850-645-5453.
The Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at 850-644-3424 at least five business days prior to a musical event if accommodation for disability or publication in alternative format is needed.