Gordon Getty

Getty was raised in San Francisco, California, where he attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and the University of San Francisco.^[3] He would also earn a B.A. in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.^[4] He studied singing with Verna Osborne.^[5]

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.^[6] His net worth was cited as $2.1 billion in 2020, making him the 391st richest person in the United States.^[7]

In 2002, Getty founded ReFlow, a company which temporarily purchases shares in mutual funds to save funds taxes and commissions.^[4][8]

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.^[9] 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.^{[10][full citation needed]}

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

On Christmas Day, 1964, he married Ann Gilbert (1941–2020) in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[11][12] Gordon and Ann Getty lived in a yellow Italianate mansion in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, with sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Over the years, Getty and Ann, a publisher and a decorator, expanded their living space, buying the house next door (to make room for his work at the piano) and then the house next door to that. They hosted charity events, opera stars, and fundraisers for politicians, including Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom's father, William Newsom, one of Gordon's friends since high school, managed the family trust for years.^[13]

On April 1, 2015, it was reported that Getty's son Andrew Rork Getty died at his home in Hollywood Hills, suffering, the Los Angeles County coroner's office found, from methamphetamine intoxication, heart disease, and bleeding linked to an ulcer. His $200 million share of the family trust was redistributed among his siblings.^[14] In 2021, his son John Gilbert Getty died.^[15]

Getty's assets are managed by Vallejo Investments. Vallejo Investments is what's known as a "family office," an in-house financial team of specialized attorneys, accountants, and money managers.^[16]

The mother of three of Getty's seven children is his former mistress Cynthia Beck.^[17] Two of Getty's daughters, Sarah and Kendalle, are suing former financial advisor Marlena Sonn, for "unjust enrichment." In a countersuit, Sonn accused the Gettys and their advisors of retaliation for her opposition to a "dubious tax avoidance scheme" that could save them as much as $300 million.^[18]

His donations to University of San Francisco helped build the Koret Health & Recreation Center, John Lo Schiavo, S.J. Center for Science & Innovation, and helped establish the J. Paul Getty Honors College Fund.^[19]

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.^[20] It has been broadcast on PBS in the U.S. and Europe on ARTE, as well as film festivals and programs across the country.^[21]

• 1986 – Outstanding American Composer, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts^[22]
• 2003 – Gold Baton, League of American Orchestras^[22]
• 2015 – University of San Francisco Alumnus of the Year^[23]
• 2023 – San Francisco Conservatory of Music Dinner in his Honor^[24]

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

• An American Song Album (2019, PENTATONE PTC 5186770)
• Beauty Come Dancing (2018, PENTATONE PTC 5186621)
• A Certain Slant of Light (2018, PENTATONE PTC 5186634)
• The Canterville Ghost (2017, PENTATONE PTC 5186541)
• Out of the Shadows: Rediscovered American Art Song (2016, PENTATONE PTC 5186572)
• The Little Match Girl Archived 2021-07-29 at the Wayback Machine (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 Archived 2021-07-29 at the Wayback Machine (2003, PENTATONE PTC 5186017)

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