March 13: Very Young Composers at David Geffen Hall. Jon Deak, founder of the Very Young Composers (VYC), and Bill Gordh, his co-producer and co-narrator will host another musical session featuring the works of 3 Very Young Composers in the Sidewalk Studio just before the Young Peoples Concert. On Jan 28, they presented 4 VYC summer commissions with a string quartet followed by an audience created composition about a flood threatening Instrument Village. This time following a VYC fanfare, 2 VYCers, M and Adam will present new works for a quartet of Flute, Trumpet, Bass and Percussion. Instead of standard notation, for the first time each composer created a graphic score to be explored by the players. The program will be repeated and each closes with a narrative score that the audience contributes their own ideas that will be interpreted by the musicians.
Oct 30: Lincoln Center/David Geffen Hall Open House. Bill Presented a storytelling workshop at the Lincoln Center All Day Open House on Oct 30th. In his workshop the children and family attendees helped build a musical story about 3 instrument friends Banjo, Flute and Percussion. Bill played his banjo and led the story-making and composing with the help of two marvelous New York Philharmonic teaching artists, Anna Urey (Flute) and Justin Hines (Percussion). The young people in the audience guided the adventure across the river, to the North Pole, through a rainforest and into a Haunted House. It was quite a musicalized adventure.
Nov 9 - 11. NAES Biennial Conference. San Antonio. Bill will be offering 2 workshops as well as holding a Meet-and Greet at the booth of the publisher of his latest book, "Making Room for Everyone". His workshops at this year's NAES Biennial Conference include a storytelling approach to Children's Chapels and using folktales from around the world to explore fairness and justice. Bill has presented workshops at every biennial since 2000.
Oct 1: Storytelling with Kardemimmit! The World Music Institute and Scandinavia House invite you to a live recording for the WMI Folktale Podcasts. Bill is the storytelling host for the series, which pairs Bill's telling of a traditional folktale from the culture of the guest musician. The guest musician accompanies the story. For the Oct 1 event, WMI and Scandinavia House have teamed up to present a live performance of Bill and the Finnish quartet Kardemimmit. Kardemimmit consists of 4 musician/vocalists from Finland. They play the kantele and the story Bill will tell for the concert is "The Enchanted Kantele". Prior to the introduction to the 4 artists, Bill will open the program with a couple other Finnish folktales. The concert is at Scandinavia House at 58 Park Ave (Between 37th and 38th) in New York City. It will be at 4:00 and is FREE. Kardemimmit will be offering a full concert at 7:00 PM on the same day at Scandinavia House.
July 23: Storytelling at Sugar Hill Children's Museum On Saturday at 11:00 AM and again at 1:00 PM, Bill will present a program of "Animal Tales of Animal Tails' and other stories. Of course with banjo in hand, it should be an exciting time for the family. Here's more info on the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. Hope to see you!
June 15: WMI Folktale Podcast with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda. The World Music Institute Folktales Podcasts with storyteller host Bill Gordh continue with the launch of "Two Girls", a South American folktale retold by Bill accompanied by master Columbian harpist Edmar Castaneda. The collaboration is a dynamic realization of this exciting story. It continues the vibrant spirit of the previous podcasts - "Night Comes to the Rainforest" with Award Winning Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista, "Red Rory and the Fairies", an Irish tale accompanied by Seamus Egan and the Indian tale "Grandmother Rabbit and the Elephant King" with veena player Saraswathi Ranganathan.
June 25: Family Midsummer Celebration at Scandinavia House On Saturday June 25th, come for music, stories and crafts at Scandinavia House for a Midsummer Family Celebration. Finnish Singer/songwriter Ida Metsberg will share some songs and Bill will tell a couple of Scandinavian folktales accompanied by his banjo (of course) and one tale with a kantele. There will also be arts activities for the family. It begins at 11:00. Tix available. Scandinavia House is at 58 Park Ave between 37th and 38th.
April 9: Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. Bill has created a program as part of the museum's celebration of the work of artist Faith Ringgold. Entitled Here We Are in Harlem: The Faith Ringgold Storytelling Project, Bill with his banjo will present stories and songs. These are inspired by two of the artist's children's books, The Three Witches, a folktale collected by Zora Neale Hurston and retold by Joyce Carol Thomas with illustrations by Ringgold and We Came to America. Bill will retell the witch story as well as a Brer Rabbit tale Hurston also collected. This leads to other Southern African-American Brer Rabbit folktales and include some songs with lyrics by Langston Hughes. Bill will also tell a Swedish folktale from his own heritage honoring Ringgold's theme of how all of us came to America with special things to share. The program will be presented twice at the museum on Saturday, April 9 at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. All welcome. Here is MORE INFO!
March 15: WMI Folktales Podcast launches! Bill is the host of the new podcast produced and presented by the World Music Institute "Folktales Set to Music from Around the World". Bill is working with a range of top world musicians, in which he tells a folktale from the culture of the special guest artist. Families will enjoy hearing favorite instruments and musicians as well as being introduced to new ones. Each folktale has been selected specifically for the musician and instrument that will accompany the tale. The first which is now available is an Irish folktale called "Red Rory and the Fairies". Bill tells the tale accompanied by renowned composer and multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan. He plays the whistle. The story is an exciting one. A new story will be podcast each month on the 15th. Upcoming programs include an Indian follktale accompanied by Saraswathi Ranganathan on Veena and a rainforest story with Bill on Banjo and the multi-award winning Brazilian percussionist, Cyro Baptista. Tune in!
Jan. 8: Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. Bill returns to the Sugar Hill with a very special storytelling program to begin the new year. The Storytelling Stone introduced stories to the Iroquois. Bill will share the story of the stone and some of the tales it told. The folktales in the program will include "Dewando and the Flying Head", "The Frog Pond" and "The Boy who Lived with the Bears". The program will be presented twice with shows at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
Oct. 16: Sugar Hill Children's Museum's 2nd Annual Storytelling Festival. Bill will be one of the featured tellers at the 2nd annual Storytelling Festival at the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. An exciting day of storytelling with 2 distinct programs: one in the morning at 10:00 AM and the afternoon beginning at 1:00 PM. In addition to Bill storytellers include Len Cabral, April Armstrong, Valentina Ortiz, Shine and the Moonbeams, Fyuch, Teatrosea and Rachel Harrington. Go to the website to register! a Fun Day. Bill will be performing the afternoon session.
June 27: Family Service on Shelter Island. After a year's break due to COVID, Bill returns to Union Chapel in the Grove on Shelter Island for his annual family service. The service is designed to illuminate the theme of TAKING CARE with songs, stories, proverbs from around the world and Bible readings. This year's program will include a folktale about King Solomon, a tale from China about a cracked pot and the Bible story of "Ruth and Naomi". Children will read aloud proverbs from Sweden, Ecuador, Mexico, Nigeria and East Africa as well as special passages from the Bible. Songs will be sung including a new one composed by Bill Gordh especially for this service. Read more about the program in this article in the Shelter Island Gazette. The hour-long service is FREE and begins at 10:30 AM.
April 18: Sugar Hill Museum CONCERT. Bill returns to Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling for a third virtual storytelling concert this season of folktales from around the world. This time enjoy tales from the Caribbean, Norway, Sweden and West Africa. Of course Bill will accompany his stories with banjo. Sunday, April 18. 1:00 - 1:45 PM. It's free. You can register online on the museum site. It's Free.
Jan 31: Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling CONCERT! Bill returns to Sugar Hill for another virtual storytelling concert of folktales from around the world. This time enjoy tales from the Inuit, Mexico, West Africa, Japan and Brazil. Of course Bill will accompany his stories with banjo. Sunday, Jan. 31. 1:00 - 1:45 PM. It's free. You can register online on the museum site. It's Free.
Bill Gordh YouTube Channel: Now over 200 tales! Bill has been busy during this time of isolation using the time to record quite a few of the many, many stories he knows and putting them up on his YouTube Channel. He has recorded more than 190 stories since early March 2019 and with the others already available puts it over 200 folktales. They are from around the world and all accompanied by banjo or some other instrument. There are short funny stories, long quest adventures, Bible stories, Why Tales, Tall tales, Jewish and Buddhist stories. Often Bill has added little song refrains to make them more fun for young listeners. On the channel there are all the stories compiled as well as ones on playlists that offer the stories that are presented in his books. There is also a Scandinavian playlist as Scandinavia House has been using some on occasion for their family newsletters. Luckily, there is still a big pile of stories that have yet to be recorded. Enjoy! and If you like them, let me know!!
Nov 8: Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling Concert. Bill will present a program of folktales from around the world on Sunday. Nov 8 at 1:00 PM as a guest of The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling. With banjo in hand Bill will share stories from West Africa, Japan, Myanmar, America and more.. in a virtual concert. For more info and to REGISTER.
Nov 5 - 6: National Association of Episcopal Schools' Biennial Conference. Bill was a featured speaker at the NAES Biennial in San Francisco in 2000. He has presented at every Biennial since. This year's was to be in San Diego but has been converted into a virtual event. Bill will present a workshop celebrating his new book Making Room for Everyone: More Stories for Building a Children's Chapel. There are many other exciting workshops and speakers. The NAES 2020 Biennial.
August 25: Making Room for Everyone is here!
Bill's new book, Making Room for Everyone, is now available everywhere. Support your local bookstore!
August 10: Lunch with the Rabbi. Monday, August 10:Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal and High Holy Day Storyteller Bill Gordh discuss Gordh's new book "Making Room for Everyone" The book contains Bill's tellings of 35 folktales from around the world compiled thematically concerning self, the value of all living things, faith, hope, family and friends to be used to create more inclusive gatherings. It's at Noon and can be accessed on Facebook or on Twitter. .
July 25: Storytelling on-line For Hans Christian Andersen Program. Bill will join 2 other wonderful storytellers to share stories on another all-Andersen stories program. Due to Covid, the storytelling will be on-line instead of in Central Park. Every Saturday from 11:00 - Noon from June through September there will be storytelling programs as there have been for more than 50 years. The Hans Christian Storytelling Center is the host. World-renowned teller Laura Simms has gathered another remarkable group of tellers for the summer. This Saturday, July 25th, the tellers will be Noah Baum, Randel McGee and Bill Gordh in an all Andersen Program. You can access on Facebook or Youtube FREE
Nov 7th:,2009 The New York Philharmonic’s KIDZONE at the Young Peoples Concert, Avery Fisher Hall. Jon Deak and Bill Gordh’s “Instrument Village: The Instruments’ Guide to Young People” with new music by 10 and 11 year old composers from the Bridge Composers Programs.
October 31st : The Haunted House – a special 2 hour event designed for 6 and 7 year olds at the Jacob Burns Film Center Media Lab.
October 17th: A Program of Swedish Tales; Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, NYC. 11:00 AM. Free to the Public.
September: 2 Songs on New Bluegrass Recording: 2 songs Bill wrote with Billy Boone Smith "Whippoorwill" and "Regardless" appear on Billy’s new CD "Live from the Moose Lodge". Other songs on the album include ones Billy wrote with the legendary Tom T. Hall, Grammy winner Paul Overstreet and Irene Kelly. www.muddysunshine.com
September 18: Curriculum Consulting and Development: Trinity Wall Street Pre-School, NYC has arranged for Bill to work with its faculty for a series of workshops throughout the school year.
September 11: Storytelling Workshop: Bill led a 3 hour Storytelling Workshop for Children’s Librarians at the Midtown –Manhattan Branch for the New York City Public Library.
Aug 3rd – 6th : Workshops for Children of new Curriculum: Seeing Stories Summer Workshops at Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY. Newly created curriculum for very young filmmakers (ages 6 and 7) incorporating stories, storytelling, music, watching and making movies.
July 22 – July 30: Workshops and Performances for Children in Music Composing Instrument Village: The Haunted House (15th Instrument Village adventure) Very Young Composers of Eagle County, CO. Mentoring workshops and public performances for 8 – 13 year olds with composer/educator Jon Deak. Performed by NY Philharmonic musicians. Sponsored by The New York Philharmonic and The Vail Valley Music Foundation.
August 2: 4th Annual “Spin the Globe” Family Performance: presented by Eagle Montessori near Vail Colorado. Venues have included Gerald Ford Amphitheatre, Minturn Amphitheatre and the Lundgren Amphitheatre in Gypsum.
July 14th – 17th. Seeing Stories Summer Workshops at Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY. Newly created curriculum for very young filmmakers (ages 4 and 5) incorporating stories, storytelling, music, watching and making movies.
July 11th – 13th – Workshop Leader at the Episcopal Women’s Triennial, Anaheim, California.
July 6 – 10: Director of Manhattanville College’s 7th annual Summer Arts Institute. 3- credit – Graduate level program.
June 28 – July 2nd Guest Storyteller and Workshop Leader: Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.
June 20th : Program of Greek and Cypriot Tales – Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, Houston, Texas.
June 18th – 19th: Featured Speaker. Early Childhood Retreat, Southwest Association of Episcopal Schools, Houston, Texas.
