Supertitles should invite the audience into the experience of listening and allow them to quiet their minds, open their hearts, and be receptive to the power of the music that was inspired by the text.
Nothing should jar the senses or distract the audience from engaging with the performance.
To achieve this, good supertitles are not merely literal, word-for-word translations.
The English rendering should be fluid and easy to read, while faithfully expressing the flavor and emotions of the original language and the composer's intentions.
Drawing on my five decades of experience as a performer, lecturer, author, and translator, I enjoy creating readable English supertitles that maintain the historical, linguistic, and even theological sense of the original text.
On the other hand, for choral works written in English, such as Britten's War Requiem, Handel's Alexander's Feast, or Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, my supertitles include the complete English text.
My list of recent clients includes the the Seattle Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony,the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Carmel and Saint Louis Bach Festivals, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and dozens of other orchestras and choral ensembles in the USA and Canada.
The Seattle Symphony and the St. Louis Bach Festival are using my St. John Passion supertitles for their 2024 performances. Nathalie Stutzmann, Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony, chose my supertitles for her ASO performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. I also provided St. Matthew Passion supertitles for the South Dakota Symphony's concert and livestream. My supertitles for Orff's Carmina Burana were shown by the Marin Symphony in California and the Florida Orchestra. The Bozeman Symphony recently used my supertitles for the Poulenc Gloria. The Carmel Bach Festival has used my supertitles for two decades.
Although I have supertitled four centuries of music, I especially enjoy creating supertitles for the works of J.S. Bach. His music was an important part of my singing career, and I even wrote a unique book about daily life in his time.
Please send me a message about your upcoming performances. I'm delighted to answer specific questions. My very affordable fees are based on the size and complexity of the musical works and also on the size of your organization.
“David Gordon's supertitles capture the essence of the texts, succinctly express their meaning, and then allow the audience to focus on the music.”
RECENT CLIENTS:
Atlanta Symphony • Philadelphia Orchestra • Music of the Baroque, Chicago • Carmel Bach Festival • Saint Louis Bach Festival • Seattle Symphony • Alabama Symphony • South Dakota Symphony
• Los Angeles Master Chorale • Monterey Opera • Marin Symphony, CA • The Florida Orchestra • Bozeman Symphony, MT • Cape Cod Symphony, MA
• Master Chorale of South Florida • Masterworks Chorale, NJ • Huntington Choral Society, NY • University of Georgia • Mainly Mozart Orchestra, San Diego • University of Michigan • University of Cincinnati • Master Chorale of Tampa Bay • Long Beach Camerata Singers, CA
Canada:
Victoria Symphony • Calgary Philharmonic • Eaton Singers, Alberta • Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton
All photos in this website by David Gordon or used by permission.