About Jourdan Laine

Jourdan Laine is on the Voice and Lyric Theatre faculty at the School of Music at the University of Texas of San Antonio and is on the leadership team of the National Opera Association.

DIRECTING

This season, Jourdan Laine will direct Mozart's Don Giovanni, Poulenc's La voix humaine for UTSA Lyric Theatre, as well as her 2nd libretto premiere, Women on the Line written with composer Wesley S. Uchiyama-Penix. In the 2023 season, Jourdan Laine teamed up with Uchiyama-Penix to create Soul of Word, a new micro-opera that explores the themes of language and identity. Soul of World received its stage debut in November 2023 and then a film premiere in December 2023. Jourdan Laine produced the film with a team of faculty & students from UTSA's newly established Film & Media Studies program. The film was a Remi Award winner at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival 2024 and was accepted into the 45th CineFestival, the longest running latino film festival in the US.

Jourdan Laine enjoys directing works that are new, unknown, or under appreciated. In the past five seasons, she has directed more than ten productions for UTSA Lyric Theatre including Montsalvatge's El gato con botas, Granados' Goyescas, Monica Pearce's Aunt Helen, Bowles' A Picnic Cantata and The Fire Tower by Nell Shaw Cohen. The Bowles project was particularly compelling for Jourdan Laine as the cantata is typically loosely staged; record of a fully realized production is difficult to find. In her short time with UTSA Lyric Theatre, she has brought two world premieres, one workshop premiere, one U.S. premiere, and three Texas premieres to the stage, and has showcased the works of eight living composers. She spear-headed a six-show season in Spring 2021 that featured three all-female casts, and three Spanish language productions, two of which were rare généro chicos for which she commissioned new English translations.

She has created large-scale concepts for works in the traditional canon including Mozart's Die zauberflöte, and her recent project, Massenet's Cinderella. For Cinderella, Jourdan Laine initiated an exciting partnership with John Bagarozy from the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at UTSA. Students under Bagarozy's instruction worked with UTSA Lyric Theatre students to design and construct a newly realized production. Film students at UTSA joined the team to create a documentary about the partnership which established a new relationship with the School of Music and Film. This project is indicative of Jourdan Laine's desire for honest collaboration that meets the needs of many while producing meaningful art.

TEACHING

Jourdan Laine serves on the Voice Faculty at the School of Music at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her student have enjoyed success in competition and on stage and have received invitations to study at Florida State University, Maryland Opera Studio, The Eastman School, UNC-Greensboro, Mannes, Boston Conservatory, and others. Her students frequently place at competitions and perform lead roles in both opera and musical theatre productions. In the greater San Antonio area, her students sing with Opera San Antonio, Austin Opera, San Pedro Playhouse, Wonder Theatre, and are guest soloists in oratorio performances. 

Prior to her academic appointments, Jourdan Laine greatly enriched and grew Palm Beach Opera Studio, a rigorous seven month training program for select high school voices, and the third tier of the Palm Beach Opera's celebrated artist training system. Additionally, she served as the vocal technician for Dreyfoos School of the Arts, a nationally acclaimed institution where she trained voice students, worked with collaborative piano students, and taught private lessons through the DSOA Foundation's Ray of Light program.

Outside of her current Studio at UTSA, Jourdan Laine takes a select number of students for private study. If you are interested in a trial lesson, please send an email.

2024-2025 Season Student Victories

Dylan Ramirez, baritone: 1st place, Texoma NATS, Classical Voice (Category CL10) and 2nd place, Texoma NATS, American Negro Spiritual Competition; singing Bobby in Company by Sondheim

Emily Densmore, soprano: winner, UTSA's Concerto & Aria Competition; singing Charlotte in the premiere of Women on the Line by Uchiyama-Penix; semi-finalist, Texoma NATS, Classical Voice (CL 9); Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni

Taytum Rangel, soprano: 2nd place, 30th National Mariachi Extravaganza Competition

Johanna Kitchen, mezzo soprano: singing Marilyn in the premiere of Women on the Line by Uchiyama-Penix & Howell; semi-finalist, Texoma NATS, American Negro Spiritual Competition and Classical Voice (CL 7B)

Nayeli Palacios, soprano: semi-finalist, Texoma NATS, American Negro Spiritual Competition and Classical Voice (Category CL 5A)

Cody Prause, tenor: semi-finalist, Texoma NATS, Classical Voice (Category CL8B)

Alexandria Martinez, mezzo soprano: selected singer for UTSA's Vocal Arts Series

Sarah Angel, soprano: selected singer for UTSA's Vocal Arts Series

Matthew Mojica, bass: semi-finalist, Texoma NATS, Classical Voice (Category CL 6A)

Joshua Moncada Zoll, bass baritone: Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni

Lucas Moncada Zoll, tenor: accepted at UNC-Greensboro for continued study in voice performance (Studio grad, '24)

Kat Norman, soprano, debuted in Orgullo! by Cárdenas and Anderson at The Public Theatre in New York CIty, NY (Studio grad, '23)

Natalie Baker, soprano, earned faculty positions at Trinity University and St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas (Studio grad, '23)

Alejandro Cuellar, bass, Young Artist,Opera San Antonio; Engaged Artist Program, OperaWorks; invitation to audition, Theater Freiburg in Germany (Studio grad, '23)

SINGING

Even though much of her creative focus is on directing and teaching, Jourdan Laine continues to present recitals and appear as a guest artist for various musical arts series and new music festivals. In the 2023-2024 season, she performed selections from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne under the baton of Troy Peters and performed George Crumb's Lux Aeterna at the National Flute Association Convention Flauta Mundi: Global Voices of the Flute in August 2024. She was a guest artist for The University of Incarnate Word's 2024 Opera Gala and performed in two benefit recitals for the NATS Scholarship Fund. In November 2022, Jourdan Laine was a guest soprano with San Antonio Philharmonic for Vaughn William's Sinfonia Antartica with conductor Christopher Wilkins. She recently performed Mozart's Requiem under the baton of Yoojin Muhn and was thrilled to return to the FBC First Fine Arts Series (San Antonio, TX) to present Rorem's Cycle of Holy Songs. She completed an exciting pre-Covid 19|20 season beginning with the U.S. premiere of Douglas Hedwig's Rowing in Eden: Three Dickinson Songs, written for her voice, alongside pianist Tracy Cowden (October 2019). She performed selections from Kirsten Broberg's The Waters of Time at the 2019 New Music Festival (San Antonio, TX), Finzi's In terra pax with the Symphony of the Hills (Kerrville, TX), and was invited to present a solo recital for ​First Baptist Church's First Fine Arts Series (San Antonio, TX). Jourdan Laine was pleased to work with Douglas Hedwig in Spring 2020 to give the Tennessee premiere of Rowing in Eden: Three Dickinson Songs at the Hunter Museum of American Art.

Jourdan Laine was a Guest Artist at the 2018 Frontwave New Music Festival premiering works by composers Douglas Hedwig (We can find no scar) and Joshua Lubben (Old woman's ghost story; Rosemary's Waltz). She has been a guest soloist for Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with the symphony orchestra at the University of Texas at San Antonio, for Haydn's Creation and Vivaldi's Gloria with the SOSU Symphonic Choir (Durant, Oklahoma), and has performed with the AIMS Festival Orchestra (Graz, Austria). Jourdan Laine was a featured artist in Greensboro Opera's inaugural Gala Concert and has performed comprimario roles with Palm Beach Opera, San Antonio Opera and Amarillo Opera. Lead roles include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), and Despina (Così fan tutte) as well as roles in Suor Angelica, Gallantry, La serva padrona, City of Angels, and Beauty and the Beast. Jourdan Laine originated the role of Florinda in Seymour Barab's opera Gods of Mischief.

Jourdan Laine currently serves on the faculty of The School of Music at The University of Texas at San Antonio. 

ARTS COLLABORATION

Jourdan Laine served as an invited panelist at the Opera America conference in Montreal, Canada and has presented at the National Opera Conference (2020), Southeastern Theatre Conference (2018) and has delivered numerous masterclasses and lectures in Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. In addition to her previous university appointments (Instructor of Voice, Southeastern Oklahoma State University & Adjunct Instructor, West Texas A&M University School of Music), Jourdan Laine proudly served as the Education & Community Engagement Manager for Palm Beach Opera where she oversaw existing education programs for learners of all ages and was responsible for the direction and development of future programming. During her tenure at Palm Beach Opera, Jourdan created several successful engagement programs including the ANIMA program, OPERA: Our Story program, and Story Time Series for which she authored two children's books.

With a firm belief in opera for all, Jourdan Laine focused on accessibility initiatives, creating the ANIMA program to reach adults who are unable to experience live theatre in the opera house, as well as enhancing the annual Children's Performance with a Touch Tour for audience members with visual impairments and the development of sensory friendly components to serve persons on the Spectrum. In 2016, Jourdan was nominated & received Honorable Mention for Artshacker's Most Creative People in Arts Administration which highlights professionals throughout the US and Canada and whose inspired projects further the arts in their community and beyond. She was also awarded a grant to attend the annual Kennedy Center Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability in Washington, D.C.

As an arts administrator, Jourdan Laine worked to implement Do Something Different: Discover Opera, a marketing & engagement campaign to increase participation in all of the Opera's offerings. The campaign inspired several successful events including Crossings: Two Traditions. One Musical Heritage, a narrated concert experience that brought together musicians from both Opera and the Spiritual genres. Jourdan Laine researched and wrote the narration for the event and worked alongside Scott Guzielek (Vice President and General Manager for The Academy of Vocal Arts) to select impactful repertoire for the concert. In 2018, Jourdan Laine presented a case study at the Southeastern Theatre Conference on the Do Something Different: Discover Opera campaign alongside her campaign partners.

While at Palm Beach Opera, Jourdan Laine greatly enriched and grew Palm Beach Opera Studio, a rigorous seven month training program for select high school voices, and the third tier of the company's celebrated artist training system. Outside of the Opera, she served as the vocal technician for Dreyfoos School of the Arts, a nationally acclaimed institution where she trained voice students, worked with collaborative piano students, and taught private lessons through the DSOA Foundation's Ray of Light program.