David E. Gordon

Biography

David Gordon founded the Look & Listen Festival, a non-profit series of new music concerts in New York City art galleries (www.lookandlisten.org) and served as President of the League of Composers/ISCM (leagueofcomposers.org). During his tenure as President of the League/ISCM, David launched the Orchestra of the League of Composers, started Residency, Membership, and Commissioning Programs, and quintupled the organizational budget. David also has taught on the faculty of New York University and Hofstra University, served as the Executive Director of the League of Composers/ISCM, worked as the Vice President of First Performance, a new music performing organization, and founded and directed the Composers Ensemble at Hofstra, a 60-member performing ensemble, which premiered seven of David's works.

In 2002, David founded Pinnacle Prep, a premium test prep company that provides premium tutoring for the SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests as well as academic tutoring. Pinnacle Prep currently has over 50 employees and services clients throughout the tri-state area as well as internationally.

David’s music has been performed by the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Chamber Players of the League of Composers/ISCM, the Talujon Percussion Quartet, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, the University of Maine Percussion Ensemble, and the Hofstra University Orchestra, Mixed Chorus, and Composers Ensemble. He has won recognition and awards from Waging Peace Through Singing, Meet the Composer, ASCAP, New York University, the National Alliance for Excellence, and been nominated for an American Academy of Arts and Letters award. David participated in the Oregon Bach Festival with seminars by Tan Dan and Murray Schafer, the Wellesley Composers Conference with seminars by Mario Davidovsky, the Ernest Bloch Music Festival with seminars by Joan Tower, and Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) conferences in Maine, Michigan, and Indiana. Among his commissioned works have been Drops, for violin and percussion, Propulsion, for viola and violoncello, and Ellen and William, two pieces for piano.

David also composed the music for, filmed, and edited Mitia, a 40-minute documentary on the life of Matthew Didlove, a French WWII veteran. The video was selected in 2001 for archive by the Spertus Museum in Chicago to be used for educational purposes and as a presentation to Holocaust Survivor Groups. David also wrote a novel entitled The Canvas.

Born in Illinois in 1969, David earned his M.A. in music composition in the year 2000 at New York University, where he studied with Charles Wuorinen, Martin Boykan, Louis Karchin, and Elizabeth Hoffman.

ACE Publications

11 title(s)
Composer Title SCORING/INSTRUMENTATION Year
David E. Gordon Cement Entanglement
pno, fl, cl
David E. Gordon Drops
vln, perc
David E. Gordon Elegy mixed choir, 8 parts
SSAATTBB
David E. Gordon Excerpt from the Memoirs of a Carrot
Baritone Voice, Fl, Cl, Vn, Vcl, Pno
David E. Gordon Moments, Tempo Etudes Piano
David E. Gordon Multitudes
perc (4)
David E. Gordon MyGrain
David E. Gordon Propulsion vla, vcl
David E. Gordon String Quartet No. 1
2 vln, vla, vcl
David E. Gordon Tribeca piano trio
vln, vcl, pf
David E. Gordon Wanting to Soar
Soprano, pno

Additional Works