ABOUT
Canadian/American soprano Jardena Gertler-Jaffe has been praised for her genuine and intelligent performance, and her creativity on and off the stage.
Photo by Micah Gleason
Jardena enjoys contributing to the classical music landscape in many ways, through workshopping and premiering contemporary music, championing artistic agency, and curating, producing, and singing imaginative performances.
Jardena's recent work includes singing the role of Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio, a recital inspired by the life of iconic composer and muse Alma Mahler with mentor/collaborator Erika Switzer, and workshopping the role of Thea in Danika Loren’s Hedda. Highlights of her career so far have included performing the Canadian premiere of Alex Weiser’s and all the days were purple, and making the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Five Songs from Anna Berkowitz, works that also highlight her love of and interest in Yiddish language and culture. Jardena’s ongoing artistic project, Our Singing Bodies, which treats the singer’s body as the site for the negotiation of power and identity can be found at oursingingbodies.com.
Jardena currently studies with mezzo soprano Michaela Martens, and is a recent graduate of the selective Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory where she studied with Lorraine Nubar, Stephanie Blythe, and Kayo Iwama. Jardena holds a B.Mus. from the University of Toronto, and is an alumna of Sarasota Opera’s Apprenticeship, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, and the Association for Opera in Canada Emerging Artist Fellowship.
While performing is her main focus, Jardena also earned her M.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto. Jardena seeks to incorporate her research interests concerning the construction of musical, artistic, and cultural identities in the face of oppression/ oppressive systems into her artistic practice. An interpreter of Yiddish art song and Jewish liturgical works, Jardena has worked as a cantorial soloist in synagogues in the United States and Canada, and performed at Jewish Music conferences and festivals in Quebec and Ontario. Jardena will begin a doctoral project uniting her performance and research interests at NYU in the Fall of 2024.