An Evening of Song and Story
A Co-Production of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Blue Strawberry
Composer Ricky Ian Gordon is in town for the world premiere of his newest opera, This House, at Opera Theatre. Ricky wrote the music, and Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber wrote the libretto.
Mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano is in town to sing the role of Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus at Opera Theatre.
Turns out Ricky and Kelsey are old friends and colleagues who have been itching to work together. Ricky wrote a six-song cycle called Without Music, with Kelsey in mind as the singer. The cycle sets the poems of Marie Howe, a major influence on Ricky over decades, to music. It was written in memory of Ricky’s partner Jeffrey Michael Grossi, who died of AIDS in 1996.
This performance marks the first time that Ricky and Kelsey will have been able to do it as originally intended - together.
They will also do a second song cycle of Ricky’s titled Late Afternoon, to poems by Jane Kenyon, Jean Valentine, and Marie Howe.
Ricky Ian Gordon is a New-York based composer and writer whose works have been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and all over the USA and Europe. As a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. Gordon has seen his songs performed and recorded by Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Nicole Cabell, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Frederica Von Stade.
About his work, The New York Times had this to say, “If the music of Ricky Ian Gordon had to be defined by a single quality, it would be the bursting effervescence infusing songs that blithely blur the lines between art song and the high–end Broadway music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. It’s caviar for a world gorging on pizza!”
Grodon’s newest opera, This House (lib. Lynn Nottage and Ruby Aiyo Gerber), makes its world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in May of 2025. Others: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (New York City Opera/Yiddish Folksbiene, lib. Michael Korie); Intimate Apparel (Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater, lib. Lynn Nottage); Ellen West (Beth Morrison Projects, Opera Saratoga, lib. Frank Bidart); The House Without a Christmas Tree (Houston Grand Opera), 27 (Opera Theatre of St Louis, lib. Royce Vavrek); Morning Star (Cincinnati Opera, lib. William Hoffman); A Coffin in Egypt (Houston Grand Opera, lib. Leonard Foglia); Rappahannock County (Virginia Opera, lib. Mark Campbell); Green Sneakers (Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and Lincoln Center, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon); The Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera, lib. Michael Korie); The Tibetan Book of The Dead (Houston Grand Opera, lib. Jean Claude Van Itallie); and Orpheus and Euridice (Lincoln Center, lib. Ricky Ian Gordon, Obie Award). Musicals include Sycamore Trees (Signature Theatre, playwright Nina Mankin, Helen Hayes Award); My Life with Albertine (Playwrights Horizons, playwright Richard Nelson, AT&T Award, Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Music Theater Foundation Award); and Dream True (Vineyard Theatre, playwright Tina Landau, Richard Rodgers Award). Upcoming works include the opera This House (librettists Lynn Nottage and Ruby Gerber).
As a teacher, Gordon has taught both master classes and composition classes in colleges and universities throughout the country, including Yale, NYU, Northwestern, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, and more. His honors include an Obie Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award, the 2003 Alumni Merit Award for exceptional achievement and leadership from Carnegie Mellon University, a Shen Family Foundation Award, the Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, the Constance Klinsky Award, and many awards from ASCAP.
Gordon’s memoir, “Seeing Through: A Chronicle of Sex, Drugs and Opera” has recently been published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and is available as an audiobook as well.
Kelsey Lauritano is an American mezzo-soprano of Japanese heritage, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is widely recognized for her expressive artistry and commanding stage presence. Praised by The New York Times for the “warmth” and “heroism” of her voice, by Opera News for her “wondrous power,” and The Boston Globe for a “wine-dark voice with a low range of staggering strength,” she continues to gain international acclaim across operatic and concert repertoire.
In May and June of 2025, Lauritano sings the role of Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She is currently an ensemble member at Oper Frankfurt, one of Europe’s leading opera houses. In the 2024–25 season, she makes notable role debuts as Rosmira in Händel’s Partenope and Claudia in Dittersdorf’s Doktor und Apotheker. She also returns to signature roles including Lichas in Händel’s Hercules and Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Additional appearances include performances as Un Musico in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at both Zürich Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera) under Marco Armiliato.
In recent seasons at Oper Frankfurt, Lauritano has made acclaimed debuts in roles such as Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Paolo (Francesca da Rimini), The Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen), Fragoletto (Die Banditen), Emilia (Otello), and the mezzo-soprano soloist in Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, a fully staged Tchaikovsky Liederabend directed by Christof Loy (DVD: Unitel/Hessischer Rundfunk).
On the concert stage, she has performed Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle at the Edinburgh International Festival with James Baillieu, Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl under Giedr? Šlekyt?, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Bayerisches Rundfunkorchester led by Howard Arman (CD: BR-Klassik).
Outside of Frankfurt, Lauritano has appeared with the Oregon Symphony, Boston Early Music Festival, New World Symphony, Music Academy of the West, New York Song Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, and Nürnberger Symphoniker.
She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she was awarded the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music. In 2024, she received the Eva Kleinitz Award at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino (CLIP) in Italy, and previously won First Prize at the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition. Additional honors include recognition from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, and the Gerda Lissner/Liederkranz Song Competition. In 2012, she was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts by President Barack Obama.