Ricky Ian Gordon’s (CRF 2009) Intimate Apparel and The Garden of the Finzi-Continis are premiering in New York almost simultaneously.
“In a coincidence caused by pandemic delays, not one but two of his operas are opening nearly simultaneously before this month is out, and both involve the darkness Gordon adored in Follies. Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center Theater… deals with lies, deceptions and thwarted dreams in the story of a Black seamstress in 1905 New York. And The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, presented by New York City Opera and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, is based on a semi-autobiographical Giorgio Bassani novel about the fate of privileged members of the Jewish community in Ferrara, Italy, who were tragically blind to what awaited them during World War II.
It’s a highly unusual situation for a living composer: To have two of your operas playing at once in New York, your name usually has to be something like Puccini…”
Read the entire article to learn more about the twists and turns of Gordon’s career and what has moved him to write across so many genres and time periods.