Lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “vocally resplendent” and possessing “impeccable coloratura,” soprano Alisa Jordheim makes several role debuts this season: Violetta in La traviata with Opera Western Reserve, Adina in L’elisir d’amore with the New Philharmonic, and she joins San Francisco Opera for their productions of The Handmaid’s Tale and Un ballo in maschera. On the concert stage, she sings Carmina Burana with Pacific Symphony, Christmas concerts with San Diego Opera and the Spreckels Organ Society, and Salute to Broadway in concert with the NW Indiana Symphony. Last season, she returned to the Pacific Symphony for her role debut as Musetta in La bohème, made her London debut in concert with the Voces8 foundation, and made her Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra debut singing Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
Ms. Jordheim recently sang her first performances of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro in her debut with Virginia Opera, joined the Enescu Festival as First Maid in Der Zwerg, and returned to San Diego Opera as Despina in Cosi fan tutte. She created the role of Lola in Aldridge’s Sister Carrie with Florentine Opera, a commercial recording of which was released on Naxos Records.
On the concert stage, she has sung Torke’s Book of Proverbs at the Grant Park Music Festival, the title role in Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull’s Letters from Ruth with the New York Opera Society at the National Gallery of Art, Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Insanae et vanae curae with Ensemble Pygmalion at the Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles, and others.
She holds a Master of Music and Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, with previous studies at Lawrence University. She is the 2016 Rose Bampton Award winner by The William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation, where she was also a career grant recipient in 2015. She was awarded an American Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship and US Student Fulbright Foundation Travel Grant for study and research in Scandinavia towards her doctoral work, also at the University of Cincinnati. She is a two-time winner of the Wisconsin district of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 winner of the Bel Canto Regional Artists Competition, and second place winner of the Auditions Plus Classical Singer Vocal Competition, and recipient of the Edith Newfield Scholarship in the Musicians Club of Women Scholarship Competition