Jordan Twadell, Soprano
About Jordan
Biography
23-year-old soprano Jordan Twadell, originally from Gurnee, Illinois, is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she studies under the tutelage of Professor Nova Thomas. Her work is shaped by a strong commitment to dramatic storytelling, collaborative music-making, and a growing operatic and concert repertoire.
In the spring of 2025, Jordan made her Shepherd School Opera debut as the Marquis in John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, directed by Patricia Racette and conducted by Ben Manis. She returned to the Shepherd School stage in the fall of 2025 as Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, directed by R.B. Schlather and conducted by Louis Lohraseb. In the spring of 2026, Jordan looks forward to singing Alice Ford in the Shepherd School’s concert performance of Verdi’s Falstaff, under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
In the summer of 2026, Jordan will attend the Music Academy of the West as a Voice Fellow, where she will work with acclaimed artists including Sasha Cooke, John Churchwell, and others. This experience marks an important step in her continued artistic development and professional training.
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During the summer of 2025, Jordan joined the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, where she performed First Lady in The Magic Flute, directed by Dean Anthony and conducted by Steven White. She also covered the soprano solo in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, and had the opportunity to sing the full piece with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, conducted by Keith Lockhart.
The previous summer, as a recipient of the Schmidt Vocal Arts Alumni Grant, Jordan portrayed Lucy Brown in Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, conducted by Joseph Mechavich, and covered Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème, conducted by Steven White. That summer, she also appeared as a soloist in concert with renowned music director Andy Einhorn.
Jordan earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Salvatore Champagne. While at Oberlin, she was a finalist in the 2023–2024 Senior Concerto Competition and a recipient of the Louis and Marguerite Bloomberg Greenwood Prize. Jordan's operatic work included Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring, Quinn in the world premiere of Alice Tierney by Melissa Dunphy, and Catherine in Offenbach's Les mariage aux lanternes. In the spring of 2023, Jordan made her professional operatic debut in Alice Tierney with Opera Columbus, marking the beginning of her professional operatic career.