For Canadian conductor Gordon Gerrard, music serves as an animating life force. He relishes the making of it, takes pleasure in how it brings joy and comfort to audiences, and appreciates its potential to change how people perceive the non-musical aspects of their lives.
Gordon’s deep commitment to the Canadian operatic and orchestral landscape enters a new chapter with his appointment as Artistic Director of Manitoba Opera. This follows a transformative decade as Music Director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, where he now serves as Conductor Emeritus, having established a legacy of dynamic programming that explored social change, community engagement, and orchestral classics.
He has guest-conducted major Canadian orchestras (including Vancouver, Toronto, Québec, Victoria, London, and Kitchener-Waterloo) and leading opera companies across the country (Calgary, Hamilton, and Edmonton). A passionate mentor to the next generation of performers, Gordon regularly works with emerging artists at Calgary Opera, the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, the Banff Centre, Opera Nuova, UBC Opera, Opera McGill, and the Glenn Gould School.
All of this was rather unlikely for a kid who grew up on a farm just outside Brandon, Manitoba. There was music in the house—Mom played the piano, Dad listened to old-timey country music, and Grandma led the choir at the little church in town. Gordon started piano lessons at seven and developed quickly, soon setting his alarm for 6:00 a.m. so he could practice before catching the school bus.
While live classical music was rare in rural Manitoba, he burned through cassette tapes of the “great composers” and a Reader’s Digest compilation of piano hits. By high school, he was obsessed. At 17, Gordon left the farm to pursue his undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, later earning a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. It was there that he discovered the joy of collaborating with singers, sparking a lifelong fascination with opera and the world of conducting.
“There’s this sort of dance that you do with the singers,” he says. “Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, and almost never do you articulate who’s doing which at any given time. I love it.”
As an orchestral conductor, he is deeply indebted to his mentor, the late Bramwell Tovey. When Gordon became Assistant Conductor with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2012, he had never conducted a single movement of a Beethoven symphony. Tovey helped him hone his technical skills and modeled how to be a true artistic leader, both on and off the podium.
“Music brings people together,” Gordon says. “I really do believe that as time goes on, what we need is more togetherness, more community. I consider it a privilege to be part of that magic.”
