Peter Gordon

Peter Gordon (New York, 20 June 1951) is an American composer and saxophonist whose work moves between electronic music, musical theatre and experimental rock.

His initial training took place in Munich, where he studied saxophone with Don Menea, music theory with P. J. Korn, and played in rock groups.

Back in the United States he studied music and telecommunications at the University of Southern California (1969-1970), composition at the University of California, San Diego, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1973, and electronic music at Mills College, where he obtained a master's in 1975. His teachers included Kenneth Gaburo, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, Robert Ashley and Terry Riley. In 1977 he founded the Love of Life Orchestra with David Van Tieghem, an art-rock ensemble with which it performed across the United States, Canada and Europe and recorded several albums.

His compositions combine magnetic tape, electronic music, video and live performance, and frequently address social and political issues. In 1985 he received the Obie Award for the music of Otello, a multimedia work created with the Italian performance art group Falso Movimento. He has also worked as an arranger and producer, particularly with Ashley, and has played saxophone and clarinet on recordings by Laurie Anderson, Flying Lizards, Dinosaur L and Soft Verdict. From 1981 he produced video, music and theatre shows with the artist Kit Fitzgerald; his documentary Painted Melodies, Spider's Garden won the Grand Prize at the Montreux International Electronic Cinema Festival in 1993.

Gordon is remembered for bringing electronic and stage experimentation to the intersection of the avant-garde and popular culture, with a output that includes opera, film music and dance.