A recent graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hawaiian baritone Jordan Shanahan has attracted the attention of the Metropolitan Opera, where he has been cast in five productions including the roles of Kallenbach in Satyagraha by Philip Glass and Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic by John Adams. Some of the other companies who have engaged his services include the Santa Fe Opera, the Netherlands Opera, Opera Cleveland, Orlando Opera, Opera Memphis and Teatro di San Carlo Napoli.

With a repertoire that includes over forty roles encompassing a wide variety of styles, periods and vocal demands, from the baroque operas of Cavalli and Handel to the world premieres of important new works (An American Tragedy, Terra). Other notable roles in his repertoire include Figaro in both Il barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Yeletsky in Pique Dame, Posa in Don Carlo, Robert Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic, and Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

Highlights of 2012-13 include several new roles including Alberich in Das Rheingold, Belcore in l’elisir d’amore, Mozart’s Figaro, the Verdi Requiem, and The Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony at Carnegie Hall.  In the 2013-2014 season Jordan will join Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland for Don Giovanni, Die Tote Stadt, The Cunning Little Vixem, and Ariadne auf Naxos.

His reputation has been furthered by consistent success in important competitions. Some of the many awards he has won include 1st place prizes (or their equivalent) from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Loren Zachary Society, the Irene Dalis Competition, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, the George London Foundation, the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and the Union League of Chicago among many others.

On the concert stage, Mr. Shanahan is in demand as a soloist with leading modern and baroque orchestras.  Some recent appearances have included concerts with Musica Angelica, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has also enjoyed success in recitals in New York, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Portland Oregon, Seattle, The Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Mr. Shanahan’s recent recordings include two CD’s of the music of Thomas Pasatieri; the title role the one act opera Signor Deluso on the Grammy nominated “Divas of a Certain Age”, and “Songbook” a collection of songs both available from Albany Records. He is also featured in the Netherlands Opera production of Don Carlo available on DVD from Opus Arte, and in the international video broadcast of Terra on the RAI network, which will soon be released on DVD.

Mr. Shanahan was born and raised in Hawai’i, where he appeared in plays and musicals with local companies and was principal trombonist with the Hawai’i Youth Symphony. He received a scholarship to the University of Hawai’i studying trombone and composition, where on the advice of his trombone teacher he began to study voice as a way of becoming a more well-rounded musician during his first year at UH.  He was soon invited to join Hawai’i Opera Theatre, where he spent one season as a chorister and then was invited to join the Mae Zenke Orvis Opera Studio. In 1998, he matriculated at Temple University in Philadelphia singing five leading roles there over the next two years.

“…baritone Jordan Shanahan; his performance managed to tread a fine line between boyish eagerness and a more mature sense of vocal dignity. His poetic rendering of “On the beach at night, alone” was a highlight of the evening. Mr. Shanahan’s vocal power and clarity were in ample evidence”

Vaughan-Williams Sea Symphony at Carnegie Hall
Oberon’s Grove

“Saturday’s highlights included baritone Jordan Shanahan, whose voice was like hot coals. “

Verdi Requiem

Richard Scheinin
San Jose Mercury News

“…charismatic baritone Jordan Shanahan, who gave the convicted murderer Joseph de Rocher a completely human complexity that mixed the killer’s darkness with a spiritual spark. His fine baritone voice sounded beautiful or rough in turn when his music called for it, and it was intelligently used throughout, in the service of the drama. The confession scene with Joe and Sister Helen was throat-grabbingly intense; his execution took your breath away.”

Dead Man Walking

Sarah Bryan Miller
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

“…some standout performances, the most obvious being baritone Jordan Shanahan as Alberich, … Mr. Shanahan’s Alberich is powerfully sung and dramatically convincing.”

Das Rheingold

Chuck Lavazzi
KDHX St. Louis

“…With his rich baritone, Jordan Shanahan proved sympathetic as Rodolfo’s painter friend Marcello.”

La bohème

Jim Lowe
Vermont Times-Argus

“…Baritone Jordan Shanahan certainly has a future in the role of Figaro. Confident and impulsive, the vain “factotum of the city” was suavely portrayed. Shanahan’s giddy “Figaro! Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!” earned both laughs and respect from listeners.”

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Christopher Blank
Go Memphis

“…his warm lyric baritone always has a delicate edge that stays with you… he was a model of musical precision, economy and refinement.”

Pique Dame

Brian Kellow
Opera News

“…Effective and well presented was Jordan Shanahan in the role of a bespectacled student, the Hawaiian baritone sang in a remarkably high range and with beautiful dynamics.”  - Translated from the original Italian

Terra

Dario Ascoli
Oltrecultura

“…Honors must go first to Jordan Shanahan. His is not the snarling baritone one frequently hears in this role. He gave instead an exemplary display of bel canto, and his acting (for once he actually looked the same generation as Lucia) was properly bullying and, in the mad scene, tormented by what he saw.”

Lucia di Lammermoor

Alan Montgomery
Opera News

“The role of Enrico, Lucia’s brother and the motivating force that drives the opera, was superbly sung by baritone Jordan Shanahan. He is also a keen actor, and he had delineated his character to make a man once sympathetic and hated. His solos were gorgeously sung, and he was expert in making his ensemble pieces significant parts of the drama.”

Lucia di Lammermoor

Dan Wolfe
Vermont Times-Sentinel

“Jordan Shanahan’s beautiful baritone and aristocratic bearing made his sympathetic Prince Yeletsky into a complete, believable character, and his Act II aria was the highlight of the evening.”

Pique Dame

Sarah Bryan Miller
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

“As Figaro, handsome baritone Shanahan was clearly the audience favorite. He is a fun-loving, nimble, articulate, charming and charismatic performer who clearly enjoys the role and lights up the stage each time he appears.”

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Keith Kreitman
San Jose Mercury News

“Jordan Shanahan’s powerful baritone and equally strong acting skills bring haunting life to the condemned anti-hero of contemporary composer Jake Heggie’s operatic adaptation of the (nonmusical) film that starred Sean Penn. It’s a truly memorable performance.”

Dead Man Walking

Brad Haynes
Orlando Sentinel