King of Prussia, PA — Theodore Presser Company is proud to announce the release of Green Sneakers (411-41121 — Study Score — $35.00), a work for solo baritone voice with string quartet from the critically acclaimed Ricky Ian Gordon. Grown from a cycle of poems dedicated to the composer’s departed love, Green Sneakers is a raw and touching ode to the life he shared and the process of grief. The string quartet narrates the story as much as the baritone voice, creating a mini-opera, complete with an empty chair, employed as a prop, and a piano played by the singer at the conclusion. According to Gordon, “I suppose I wanted to end the piece with not only a lullaby, but a celebration of what we had together.” String quartet parts are available on rental, and the piano-vocal score available separately (411-41120).

 

Ricky Ian Gordon was born in 1956 and raised on Long Island. In love with poetry and fascinated, from an early age, by all forms of Opera and Music Theater, he attended Carnegie Mellon University as a piano major, but soon realized that his true vocation was as a composer. After college he settled in New York City and quickly emerged as one of the most successful writers of a kind of vocal music that straddles the world of theater and art song. His unusual ability to find the musical core of a poem or lyric and express that essence in an appropriate musical style, has given his songs great appeal to singers of all styles and persuasions. Mr. Gordon’s songs have been performed and or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Andrea Marcovici, Melanie Helton, Harolyn Blackwell, Betty Buckley, Margaret Lattimore, Stephanie Novacek and Mary Philips, among many others. For more information, visit: www.rickyiangordon.com.

Offering music by today’s greatest composers and teachers, Theodore Presser Company is the leader in publishing educational and recital music. Theodore Presser Company is a full-range music publisher and distributes the music of over 30 publishers from around the globe, with a combined sales catalog that features over 60,000 available works. For more information about new publications from Theodore Presser Company or to locate a dealer near you, log on to www.presser.com or e-mail us at sales@presser.com. For a review copy of the publication listed in this release, please contact Heidi Vanderlee at (212) 777-0900, ext. 230 or send an e-mail to hvanderlee@presser.com.