Teacher

Described as “vocally resplendent,” “powerful,” and possessing “impeccable coloratura” (San Francisco Chronicle), soprano Alisa Jordheim is praised for her compelling and vocally assured performances in opera, oratorio, musical theatre, early and new music, and recital. In the 2024-2025 season, Dr. Jordheim makes several role debuts, including Violetta in La Traviata (Opera Western Reserve), Adina in L'elisir d'amore (New Philharmonic), La Fée in Cendrillon (Opera Orlando), Daria-Prima Donna in Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma (Florentine Opera), and the Young Girl in Cipullo’s After Life (Music of Remembrance), in addition to joining San Francisco Opera to cover Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Janine-Ofwarren in The Handmaid’s Tale. She also appears in concert with San Diego Opera and the Spreckels Organ Society, performs Carmina Burana with both the Pacific Symphony and Evansville Philharmonic, and returns to the Northwest Indiana Sympony for a concert of musical theatre favorites.

Recent operatic role highlights include Gilda in Rigoletto (San Diego Opera, Central City Opera, Pacific Symphony, and Amarillo Opera), Musetta in La bohème (Pacific Symphony), Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Virginia Opera), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Central City Opera), Despina in Così fan tutte (San Diego Opera), Cunégonde in Candide (Palm Beach Opera), Erster Knappe in Parsifal (Opéra national de Paris), Erste Zofe in Der Zwerg (George Enescu Festival), Clotilde in Maria, regina d’Inghilterra (Odyssey Opera), Ninetta in La gazza ladra (Teatro Nuovo), Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow (New Philharmonic Opera), Venus in Venus & Adonis and Belinda in Dido & Aeneas (Florentine Opera), Luna/The Girl in the world premiere of The Rose Elf (The Crypt Sessions/The Angel’s Share in Brooklyn), and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Boston Midsummer Opera). Other operatic roles include: Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites ( Caramoor International Music Festival); Lola in the world premiere and recording of Sister Carrie, Lulu Baines in Elmer Gantry, Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, Frasquita in Carmen, and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (Florentine Opera); Marzelline in Fidelio (Madison Opera); Satirino in La Calisto (Cincinnati Opera); Nannetta in Falstaff (Emerald City Opera); Micaëla in Carmen (Columbus Symphony Orchestra/Opera Columbus); Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program); Flora in The Turn of the Screw (Central City Opera). With the New York Opera Society, Dr. Jordheim created the role of Ruth Maier (“Norway’s Anne Frank”) in Letters from Ruth, a new musical by Norwegian composer-librettist team Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull.

While she was in Paris singing with Opéra national de Paris, Dr. Jordheim appeared as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Insanae et vanae curae with Ensemble Pygmalion at Versailles. She has performed as soloist with the Grant Park Music Festival, Thailand Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Present Music, Columbus Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Madison Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Cincinnati Bach Ensemble, Madison Bach Musicians, and the Fox Valley Symphony, among others. She is the voice of Bel in the animated short film Over the Horizon, written and directed by David Pierson.

Dr. Jordheim is the winner of a Sullivan Foundation Award and Career Development Grant from the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation. She won the Bel Canto Regional Artists Competition, took 2nd place in the Classical Singer Vocal Competition - Young Artist Division, won the Edith Newfield Scholarship in the Musicians Club of Women Music Scholarship Competition in Chicago, and received the Irwin Scherzer Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation. She was also the recipient of the Central City Opera Young Artist Award, two-time winner of the Wisconsin District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and a finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya International Competition. Additionally, Dr. Jordheim is the recipient of a Central City Opera Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program Award. She was recently featured in Fred Plotkin's "40 under 40: A New Generation of Superb Opera Singers" on WQXR, New York's Public Radio station and website.

A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Dr. Jordheim completed her first two years of undergraduate study at Lawrence University, where she studied with Patrice Michaels. She earned her Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude), Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) as a student of William McGraw, and her DMA cognate field is Scandinavian song and diction.

As a Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, Dr. Jordheim studied and conducted research on singing diction in the Scandinavian languages at the University of Oslo in 2013-2014. She frequently performs recitals of songs by Scandinavian composers, has published an article on Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish singing diction in the NATS Journal of Singing, and has completed English and IPA translations of numerous songs by Scandinavian composers. Dr. Jordheim was a guest artist, coach, and lecturer on Scandinavian Song and Diction at Lawrence University and at the Cincinnati Song Initiative, where she was sponsored by Margo Garrett. She is also an advocate of new music for voice, having premiered works composed for her by Lori Laitman, Douglas Pew, Joanne Metcalf, Josh Deutsch, and Rodney Rogers.

At the collegiate level, Dr. Jordheim has taught both classical and musical theatre styles privately at CCM, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Temple University, and George Mason University. She has also taught classical and musical theatre styles to students of all ages at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the Lawrence University Academy of Music, and she has been an invited guest artist and master class teacher at Northwestern University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, San Diego State University, Lawrence University, George Mason University, Carroll University, Mahidol University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Amarillo College. As a member of the 2010 Central City Opera Regional Tour and the 2012-2013 Florentine Opera Studio, Dr. Jordheim enjoyed visiting numerous schools, spanning from the elementary to the high school level, performing and educating youth about healthy singing. Dr. Jordheim has a special interest in health and wellness as they directly relate to singing, and she has worked as a State Tested Nursing Assistant in Ohio and as a Physician’s Record Assistant in the ER at Appleton Medical Center.