A struggle with an eating disorder and gender identity may seem an unusual subject for an opera, but that’s what occupies the center of a new adaptation of Frank Bidart’s poem “Ellen West.” Ricky Gordon (CRF 1996), the composer of this soon to be premiered opera, first discovered Bidart’s long, narrative poem during a period of personal tragedy. On August 1, 1996, he lost his partner, Jeffrey Grossi, from complications of AIDS. In the aftermath of this loss, Gordon was completely broken and turned to books and poems to help him through a period of grief. One of the works he found during this time was “Ellen West.”
Largely a composer of vocal works, Gordon has a penchant for poignantly and expertly blending modern art song, opera and musical theater. The New York City-based composer also has a history of adapting ambitious literary works into music (his three-act opera of The Grapes of Wrath premiered in Minnesota in 2007). For Gordon, “Ellen West” has long been on his list of pieces to tackle. “Frank Bidart got at something so private that I was utterly shocked when I read that poem,” he said. “As time wore on, the piece that really lived inside me, that really called out to me was ‘Ellen West.’”
The opera is currently in rehearsal at Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York where “Ellen West” will have its world premiere on Sunday, June 30. The Opera Saratoga production of “Ellen West” relies largely on a creative team of women, including director Emma Griffith, Lidiya Yankovskaya, as conductor and soprano Jennifer Zetlan who will make her Opera Saratoga debut as Ellen. “It was obvious that you couldn’t deny the feminine points of view in this piece,” said Gordon. “We decided that we should have a woman director, a woman conductor and both the costume and set designers are women too.”
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