David Gordon's Life in Music

David Gordon fell in love with the guitar and five string banjo when he was 12 years old. He taught himself to play both instruments and he began entertaining audiences before he turned 14. He's been doing it ever since.

While remaining active as an acoustic musician all his life, David did experience what he smilingly refers to as "my classical music detour." After conservatory training in Montreal and Chicago he made his operatic debut in 1973. Since then, he has sung more than 60 leading roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and other major opera houses in North America, Europe, and Japan. As a concert soloist he has appeared with nearly every major North American symphony orchestra and with other great orchestras and festivals around the world. Read more here.

A well-known specialist in the music of J.S. Bach, David David has appeared in hundreds of performances of Bach's music on four continents. He was a central figure at the renowned Carmel Bach Festival In California for more than three decades. He debuted as tenor soloist with the Festival in 1983, and went on to serve as lecturer, historian, concert narrator, and director of the Festival's vocal master class for young professional singers.

David's interest in Bach led him to write The Little Bach Book in 2017. A world-wide best seller, the book is a detailed study of everyday life in early 18th-century Germany.

Throughout his classical music career, David's guitar has always been at his side. Now that he's no longer appearing on the classical stage, he happily has more time to return to his roots in acoustic music.

David lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife, Ginna BB Gordon, an author and artist. Together they own Lucky Valley Press, a book editing and design company serving independent authors. They have produced more than 100 books for 60 authors throughout North America.