About
*Currently not accepting new students - please send a message for inquiries and scheduling availability*
Hello! I am Alisa Jordheim, a Sing! Collective instructor for Lessonface.
I am a lyric coloratura soprano with 10 years of teaching experience, and I enjoy working with students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. The Sing! Collective is a virtual collection of classically trained professional vocalists working together to bring you specialized training to meet your goals. Sing!’s instructors, masterclasses, group classes, and subscription packages are here to help you establish healthy and beautiful singing technique, develop confidence, and share your voice. For more information about Sing!, click here: https://www.lessonface.com/sing-collective.
Companies/orchestras with which I've worked: San Diego Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Palm Beach Opera, Odyssey Opera, Boston Midsummer Opera, Teatro Nuovo, Florentine Opera, Caramoor International Music Festival, Cincinnati Opera, On Site Opera, Atlanta Opera, Madison Opera, Emerald City Opera, Columbus Symphony/Opera Columbus, Grant Park Music Festival, Bochumer Symphoniker, Ensemble Pygmalion, New York Opera Society, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonic, Present Music, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Madison Bach Musicians, and more.
Young Artist Programs: San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, Central City Opera Apprentice Program, Florentine Opera Studio
Education: Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; previous studies at Lawrence University
Teaching Philosophy: My primary goals in teaching voice are to establish a strong foundation of technique to foster singing longevity, and to instruct students on how best to teach themselves, thus enabling them to become effective and independent artists. I encourage my students to explore their interests outside of music and to discover connections between their performance activities and their study in other areas. When students of any age acquire an education of adequate depth and breadth – both in and beyond their primary area of study – they are equipped and empowered to become informed, perceptive, and courageous artists. And, with a solid technique and a working knowledge of various styles and performance practices, students are free to make intelligent musical choices and find their niche in the larger artistic world, whether they pursue music as a profession or avocation.
Specialties: Bel canto, Scandinavian song and diction, early/baroque music, contemporary music, musical theatre
Teaching Biography: 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. Recent operatic role highlights include Gilda in Rigoletto with San Diego Opera and Central City Opera, Cunégonde in Candide with Palm Beach Opera, 1st Knappe in Parsifal with Opéra national de Paris, Erste Zofe in Der Zwerg at the George Enescu Festival in Romania, Clotilde in Maria, regina d’Inghilterra with Odyssey Opera, Ninetta in La gazza ladra with Teatro Nuovo, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow with New Philharmonic Opera, Venus in Venus & Adonis and Belinda in Dido & Aeneas with Florentine Opera, Luna/The Girl in The Rose Elf (world premiere) with The Crypt Sessions/The Angel’s Share in Brooklyn, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Midsummer 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. Other recent operatic roles include: Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites with the 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 with Florentine Opera; Marzelline in Fidelio with Madison Opera; Satirino in La Calisto with Cincinnati Opera; Nannetta in Falstaff with Emerald City Opera; Micaëla in Carmen with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra/Opera Columbus; Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco; Flora in The Turn of the Screw with Central City Opera. 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, 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. 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, and Temple 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 universities and music festivals across the country. 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. www.alisasuzannejordheim.com
A particularly beautiful element of singing is that each of our voices is inherently different than that of anyone else. Thus, my goal as a teacher is to encourage students to develop their unique voice and help them to become the best singer they can be. I believe that a strong, healthy technique enables freedom of musical expression, and honest diction enables better singing. The foundation of my teaching is the Italian bel canto style with emphasis on the breath, resonance, healthy registration, abdominal engagement (support), and singing with the full body. I am a firm believer in the importance of developing legato, vocal flexibility, and chest voice, and learning to sing multiple genres of music as they inform each other. In my teaching, I believe that a combination of physiological knowledge, kinesthetic awareness, and imagery is paramount, but I also strive to adapt to a student’s learning style, explain technical and musical concepts in various ways, and demonstrate frequently. It is also important to realize that, as singers, we are storytellers and communicators of the human experience, so understanding and internalizing the text is an integral part of our work together. I care deeply that my students feel respected, safe, and comfortable in exploring their vocal abilities, and it brings me great joy to help them achieve their goals.
Degrees: Doctor of Musical Arts (cognate in Scandinavian Song & Diction), Master of Music in Voice, and Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Teaching Experience: Temple University, Lawrence University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, private studio, San Diego State University (masterclass), University of Texas Rio-Grande Valley (masterclass), Central City Opera Regional Tour (masterclasses), Florentine Opera Outreach (masterclasses), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (doctoral teaching assistant). Professional Affiliations: Fulbright Foundation, American Scandinavian Foundation, AGMA, College Music Society, Musicians Club of Women, Sigma Alpha Iota, Sons of Norway.
