music.wikisort.org - Composer

Gordon Peter Getty (born December 20, 1933) is an American businessman and classical music composer, the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork, was his father's fourth wife.[1] When his father died in 1976, Gordon assumed control of Getty's US$2 billion trust. His net worth was $2.1 billion in September 2020, making him number 391 on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans.[2]

Gordon Getty
Born	Gordon Peter Getty (1933-12-20) December 20, 1933 (age 88) Los Angeles, California
Alma mater	University of San Francisco San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Occupation	Businessman, composer
Spouse	Ann Gilbert ​ ​ (m. 1964; died 2020)​
Children	7, including Andrew
Parent(s)	J. Paul Getty Ann Rork Light
Family	Getty

Early life

Getty was raised in San Francisco, California, where he attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and the University of San Francisco. He would also earn a B.A. in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.[3]

Career

He joined the oil business to please his father; however, he eventually sold the family's Getty Oil to Texaco in 1986 for US$10 billion. In 1983, Forbes magazine ranked him the richest person in America with a net worth of a little over $2 billion.^{[citation needed]} His net worth was cited as $2.1 billion in 2020, making him the 391st richest person in the United States.[4]

In 2002, Getty founded ReFlow, a company which temporarily purchases shares in mutual funds to save funds taxes and commissions.[3][5]

Classical music

Among several professions, Getty is a classical music composer whose compositions include the opera Plump Jack, Joan and the Bells, piano pieces, and a collection of choral works. His one-act opera Usher House was performed by the San Francisco Opera in 2015. Aspiring to become an opera singer, Getty studied in the mid-1970s with Louise Caselotti, a mezzo-soprano who had been Maria Callas' voice teacher (1946–47). He and his wife have supported the fine arts, especially underwriting productions of the San Francisco Opera and the Russian National Orchestra.[6]^{[full citation needed]}

Getty's opera The Canterville Ghost was premiered on May 9, 2015, at the Leipzig Opera.

Personal life

On Christmas Day, 1964, he married Ann Gilbert (1941–2020) in Las Vegas, Nevada.[7][8]

On April 1, 2015, it was reported that Getty's son Andrew Rork Getty died at his home in Hollywood Hills of what was initially classified as natural causes, although coroner's officials needed to wait for the results of further examination and toxicology tests before making a final determination.[9] The coroner eventually ruled the death as accidental.[10]

Three of Getty's seven children were with Getty's then-mistress Cynthia Beck.[11]

In popular culture

Gordon Getty's life as a composer was chronicled in Peter Rosen's documentary Gordon Getty: There Will be Music which premiered on February 5, 2016, at Cinema Village in New York City [12] and has been broadcast on PBS in the U.S. and Europe on ARTE, and also appeared in film festivals, and programs across the country.[13]

Honors and awards

• 1986 – Outstanding American Composer, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts[14]
• 2003 – Gold Baton, League of American Orchestras[14]
• 2015 – University of San Francisco Alumnus of the Year[15]

List of works

Cantata and opera

• 2015 - The Canterville Ghost
• 2014 - Usher House
• Joan and the Bells
• Plump Jack

Chamber works

• Traditional Pieces

Choral works

• Annabel Lee
• Ballet Russe
• Beauty Come Dancing
• La Belle Dame sans Merci
• For a Dead Lady
• The Little Match Girl
• The Old Man in the Night
• A Prayer for My Daughter
• There Was A Naughty Boy
• Those Who Love
• Three Christmas Carols
• Victorian Scenes
• Young America

Orchestral works

• Ancestor Suite
• Homework Suite
• Overture to Plump Jack
• Traditional Pieces

Piano works

• Ancestor Suite
• Andantino
• First Adventure
• Homework Suite
• Scherzo Pensieroso
• Traditional Pieces

Songs

• Four Dickinson Songs
• Hostess's Aria
• No My Good Lord
• Poor Peter
• A Prayer for My Daughter
• Where is My Lady
• The White Election

Discography

• Beauty Come Dancing (2018, PENTATONE PTC 5186621)
• A Certain Slant of Light (2018, PENTATONE PTC 5186634)
• The Canterville Ghost (2017, PENTATONE PTC 5186541)
• The Little Match Girl (2015, PENTATONE PTC 5186480)
• December Celebration: New Carols by Seven American Composers (2015, PENTATONE PTC 5186537)
• Usher House (2013, PENTATONE PTC 5186451)
• Piano Pieces (2013, PENTATONE PTC 5186505)
• The Hours Begin to Sing (2013, PENTATONE PTC 5186459)
• Orchestral Works (2010, PENTATONE PTC 5186356)
• Plump Jack (2012, PENTATONE PTC 5186445)
• The White Election (2009, PENTATONE PTC 5186054)
• And if the song be worth a smile (2008, PENTATONE PTC 5186099)
• Young America Choral Works (2005, PENTATONE PTC 5186040)
• Joan and the bells & Serge Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet (2003, PENTATONE PTC 5186017)

References

External links

• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• Gordon Getty composer website

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