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.

On the local scene, David was a central figure at the Carmel Bach Festival 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. He is the author of The Little Bach Book, a detailed study of daily life in 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 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.