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
As a multi-faceted artist and scholar, Jardena enjoys contributing to the classical music landscape in many ways, through workshopping and premiering new music, (ethno)musicological scholarship, and curating and singing imaginative performances.
In the 2025/2026 season, Jardena sang the American premiere of Udi Perlman’s Alphabet Cantata at Yale University, and appeared in recital with Erika Switzer. Jardena will join the force of professional singers in the American Opera Projects x NYU Tisch Opera Lab at the African Grove Theatre and NY Transit Museum in May.
Jardena's recent roles include Krystyna Zywulska in Jake Heggie’s opera Two Remain, Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Gitl in Dan Shore’s Greeners (workshop), and Thea inDanika Loren’s Hedda (workshop). Jardena made the Canadian premiere of Alex Weiser’s Pulitzer-nominated set and all the days were purple, and the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Five Songs from Anna Berkowitz, works that also align with her love of and interest in Yiddish language and culture.
Jardena studies with tenor Scott Murphree and mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens. She holds music degrees from the Bard College Conservatory (Graduate Vocal Arts, MM) and the University of Toronto (BMus), as well as an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto. Jardena is an alumna of Bard Summerscape and Sarasota Opera’s Apprenticeships, Tapestry Opera’s New Opera 101, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, and the Association for Opera in Canada Emerging Artist Fellowship.
A performer/scholar, Jardena is a PhD Candidate in Music Performance at New York University and her studies are supported by a Steinhardt Doctoral Fellowship. At NYU, Jardena serves as an adjunct vocal instructor and is on the NYU-American Musicological Society Lecture Committee. Jardena’s scholarly work has appeared in Art Song Canada, Musica Judaica Online, and The University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought. Jardena has been on the staff of art song champion organization Sparks & Wiry Cries since 2020, serving as Digital Content Producer and the Managing Editor of The Art Song Magazine. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Straus Historical Society. Jardena is creator and curator of Our Singing Bodies, an ongoing artistic project that treats the singer’s body as the site for the negotiation of power and identity.