Gordon Getty: Composer and Oil Heir
Gordon Peter Getty (born December 20, 1933) is an American businessman and classical music composer and a member of the wealthy Getty family. He assumed control of his father J. Paul Getty’s $2 billion trust in 1976 and has since built a career as both an oil executive and prolific composer of operas, choral works, and orchestral pieces.
Early Life and Education
Getty was raised in San Francisco, California, where he attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and the University of San Francisco. He earned a B.A. in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied singing with Verna Osborne.
Career and Achievements
Getty initially joined the oil business to satisfy his father’s expectations. In 1986, he sold the family’s Getty Oil to Texaco for approximately $10 billion. In 2002, he founded ReFlow, a company that temporarily purchases shares in mutual funds to reduce client taxes and commissions.
As a classical music composer, Getty has created numerous works across multiple genres. His operas include Plump Jack, Usher House, The Canterville Ghost, and Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Beyond opera, he has composed cantatas such as Joan and the Bells, along with chamber works, choral pieces, orchestral compositions, and songs. With his wife Ann, Getty has supported the fine arts through underwriting productions of the San Francisco Opera and the Russian National Orchestra.
Getty aspired to become an opera singer and studied in the mid-1970s with Louise Caselotti, a mezzo-soprano who had previously taught Maria Callas. His one-act opera Usher House was performed by the San Francisco Opera in 2015, and The Canterville Ghost premiered on May 9, 2015, at the Leipzig Opera.
Notable Events and Milestones
On Christmas Day, 1964, Getty married Ann Gilbert in Las Vegas, Nevada. The couple lived in a yellow Italianate mansion in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, which they expanded over the years by purchasing adjacent properties. They hosted charity events and fundraisers for political figures including Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom.
Getty and Ann had four sons: Gordon Peter Getty Jr. (born 1965), William Paul Getty (born 1970), Andrew Rork Getty (1967–2015), and John Gilbert Getty (1968–2020). Getty also has three daughters with Cynthia Beck, his former longtime mistress, based in Los Angeles.
His donations to the University of San Francisco supported the construction of the Koret Health & Recreation Center and the John Lo Schiavo, S.J. Center for Science & Innovation, and helped establish the J. Paul Getty Honors College Fund. A documentary chronicling his life as a composer, Gordon Getty: There Will be Music, directed by Peter Rosen, premiered on February 5, 2016, at Cinema Village in New York City and was later broadcast on PBS and European television.
Awards and Honors
Getty received the Outstanding American Composer award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1986. The League of American Orchestras presented him with the Gold Baton in 2003. He was named University of San Francisco Alumnus of the Year in 2015, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music held a dinner in his honor in 2023.
Additional Resources
Getty’s life and work are documented in greater detail through Wikipedia and various biographical archives. His compositions remain available through recordings and performances at major opera houses and concert venues worldwide, offering further insight into his contributions to contemporary classical music.
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