A recent graduate of the Ryan Opera Center at 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 Robert 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, Teatro di San Carlo Napoli, Opera Cleveland, Orlando Opera, Opera Memphis and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Highlights of the 2011-12 season include a debut with the Teatro di San Carlo Napoli in the world premiere of Terra by Luca Francesconi, several productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia, and a role debut as Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie’s modern masterpiece Dead Man Walking.

His repertoire includes more than forty roles that encompass a wide variety of musical styles, periods and vocal demands, including baroque operas of Cavalli (La Calisto) plus world premieres of important new works (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, and Joseph de Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

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 Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, the George London Foundation, the Denver Lyric Opera Guild, the Metropolitan Opera National Council, and the Union League of Chicago.

On the concert stage, Mr. Shanahan has enjoyed successful recitals in New York, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Portland Oregon, Seattle, and also in Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and France. He has appeared as an orchestral soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orlando Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr. Shanahan’s recent recordings include two CD’s of the music of Thomas Pasatieri; the title role the one-act operaSignor 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 the Teatro di San Carlo production of Terra which was broadcast live internationally on the Italian RAI television network.

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.

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

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

Dario Ascoli
Oltrecultura

“…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.”

Sarah Bryan Miller
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

“…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.”

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.”

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 a highlight of the evening.”

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.”

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.”

Brad Haynes
Orlando Sentinel