Education

Judith Gordon studied at Oberlin Conservatory and at New England Conservatory where she studied with Patricia Zander.

New York debut

Judith Gordon gave her New York recital debut on May 27, 1990 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

 as part of the museum’s Introductions series. Bernard Holland

Bernard Holland

Bernard Holland is an internationally recognized American music critic. He served on the staff of The New York Times from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper....

, reviewing for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, wrote, "… Ms. Gordon does not have the dominating technique associated with major virtuosos, but she has character and she thinks."

In 1996, Judith Gordon was named the Boston Globe Musician of the Year.

The Celebrity Series of Boston

Celebrity Series of Boston

The Celebrity Series of Boston is a non-profit performing arts presenter established in Boston, Massachusetts by Boston impresario Aaron Richmond in 1938 as Aaron Richmond's Celebrity Series....

 has presented Gordon frequently and she has performed regularly with Emmanuel Music

Emmanuel Music

Emmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...

. With Rob Kapilow she explored music of Beethoven and Debussy in his What Makes It Great? programs in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. Gordon has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Boston Modern Orchestra Project

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project is a full professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, and is widely recognized as the premiere orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new music of the 20th and 21st centuries...

, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the MIT Symphony.

Chamber music performance

Gordon has performed with a variety of musicians, including: soprano Lisa Saffer, mezzo-soprano Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was an American mezzo-soprano, known for the dramatic power of her vocal artistry as well as her commitment to performing infrequently-heard Baroque era and contemporary works...

, tenor William Hite, and baritone James Maddalena; cellists Andres Diaz, Rhonda Rider, and Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

; violists James Dunham, Cynthia Phelps

Cynthia Phelps

Cynthia Phelps is an American violist whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Phelps is currently the Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which she was appointed in 1992...

, Marcus Thompson, and Roger Tapping; violinists Rose Mary Harbison and Andrew Kohji Taylor; and oboist Douglas Boyd. She has also performed with the following ensembles: Imani Winds

Imani Winds

Imani Winds is an American wind quintet based in New York. The group was founded in 1997 and is known for its adventurous programming, which includes newly composed works, as well as compositions featuring African, Latin American, and American influences...

; the Jacques Thibaud String Trio; the Arianna String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet

Borromeo String Quartet

The Borromeo String Quartet is an American string quartet, in residence at the New England Conservatory since 1992. They have performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at numerous festivals and in many distinguished chamber music series...

, Lydian String Quartet, and St. Lawrence String Quartet; the Boston Chamber Music Society

Boston Chamber Music Society

The Boston Chamber Music Society is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, Massachusetts and dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present day and is a member of Chamber Music America...

, Collage New Music, and Santa Fe New Music.

In a 1998 profile, Boston Globe classical music critic Richard Dyer quoted Gordon as saying, "Some of the most beautiful colors and textures on the piano emerge when you're not playing alone."

Collaborations with composers

Gordon has worked with or had music written for her by Martin Brody, Peter Child

Peter Child

Peter Burlingham Child is an American composer, teacher, and musical analyst. He is Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic....

, Alan Fletcher

Alan Fletcher

Alan Fletcher is an Australian actor and musician, best known for his role as Karl Kennedy in long-running soap opera Neighbours. Fletcher was educated at Wesley College, Perth.-Career:...

, John Harbison

John Harbison

John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...

, David Horne

David Horne (composer)

David Horne is a Scottish composer, pianist, and teacher.A resident composer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for four years, he has been awarded several commissions...

, Lee Hyla

Lee Hyla

Lee Hyla is an American classical music composer.Lee Hyla was born in Niagara Falls, New York, and grew up in Greencastle, Indiana...

, Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...

, and Peter Lieberson

Peter Lieberson

Peter Lieberson was an American composer. He was ballerina and choreographer Vera Zorina and Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records....

.

Teaching

Gordon has taught piano at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, and served on the jury at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition

Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition

Begun in South Bend, Indiana, USA in 1973, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition is the largest chamber music competition in the world, and the only with separate Junior and Senior Divisions...

. Ms. Gordon performs and teaches at chamber music festivals including the Cape Cod (Massachusetts), Charlottesville (Virginia), Innsbrook (Missouri), Rockport (Massachusetts), Portland (Maine), Santa Fe (New Mexico), Spoleto USA (South Carolina), and Token Creek (Wisconsin) Festivals and Music from Salem (New York), where she is a co-artistic director. Gordon is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 in Northampton, Massachusetts

Northampton, Massachusetts

The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...

.

External links

• Hear Judith Gordon live in concert from WGBH Radio Boston