GORDON GETTY: THERE WILL BE MUSIC profiles a man born into extraordinary wealth who chose to concentrate largely on music rather than on the family business. Gordon Getty's father, J. Paul Getty, was at the time of his death in 1976, the richest man in the world. But as the progeny of his father's fourth marriage, Gordon also inherited a family history that included scandal and tragedy. However, Gordon has more than survived and he has earned, on his own, membership in the highest echelons of the worlds of the arts and ideas. He is the author of complex, groundbreaking economic theories, and is an influential philanthropist and patron of the arts. It is music, however, that is Getty's chief pursuit. His compositions reflect a rich imagination and mastery of technique, as well as his courage to go against the grain of modernism. Although he thinks that he would have become a composer no matter what, Gordon credits his wealth for giving him the unrestricted liberty to compose. Yet, he credits his passion for music for lifting the curse of his family's inherited wealth and for letting him avoid all the trappings of money. Ten years in the making, the documentary offers a glimpse into the life of this complex, creative, controversial octogenarian at home and around the globe (Napa, San Francisco, Mexico, Germany, Russia and Portugal), during an intensely productive period. GORDON GETTY: THERE WILL BE MUSIC delivers an intimate portrait of the composer and musician during the creation, rehearsals, recordings and performances, of two full-length operas, including Usher House, based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, cantata, and numerous solo and chamber works.
