Jourdan Laine Howell

Bio

Soprano Jourdan Laine Howell is an active soloist and recitalist. In November 2022, Jourdan Laine was the soprano soloist in a rare performance of Vaughn Williams' Sinfonia Antarctica with the San Antonio Philharmonic and San Antonio Mastersingers. She recently performed Mozart's Requiem under the baton of Yoojin Muhn and was thrilled to return to the FBC First Fine Arts Series to present Rorem's Cycle of Holy Songs. Since joining the UTSA Lyric Theatre faculty in 2020, she has directed ten productions including Massenet's Cinderella, Mozart's Die zauberflöte, Granados' Goyescas, and Bowles' A Picnic Cantata. Jourdan Laine is committed to staging new works and underrepresented works; of the ten productions she has staged at UTSA, one was a U.S. premiere, five were Texas premieres, and six were penned by composers living today. She spearheaded s six-show season in Spring 2021 that featured three shows with all-female casts, and three Spanish language productions, two of which were rare généro chicos.

She completed an exciting 19|20 season beginning with the U.S. premiere of Douglas Hedwig's Rowing in Eden: Three Dickinson Songs, written for her voice, alongside pianist Tracy Cowden (October 2019). She performed selections from Kirsten Broberg's The Waters of Time at the 2019 Festival of New Music (San Antonio, TX), Finzi's In terra pax with the Symphony of the Hills (Kerrville, TX), and was invited to present a solo recital for ​First Baptist Church's First Fine Arts Series (San Antonio, TX). Jourdan Laine was pleased to work with Douglas Hedwig in Spring 2020 to give the Tennessee premiere of Rowing in Eden: Three Dickinson Songs at the Hunter Museum of American Art.

Jourdan Laine was a Guest Artist at the 2018 Frontwave New Music Festival premiering works by composers Douglas Hedwig (We can find no scar) and Joshua Lubben (Old woman's ghost story; Rosemary's Waltz). She has been a guest soloist for Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Handel's Messiah with the symphony orchestra at the University of Texas at San Antonio, for Haydn's Creation, and Vivaldi's Gloria with the SOSU Symphonic Choir (Durant, Oklahoma), and has performed with the AIMS Festival Orchestra (Graz, Austria). Jourdan Laine was a featured artist in Greensboro Opera's inaugural Gala Concert and has performed comprimario roles with Palm Beach Opera, San Antonio Opera, and Amarillo Opera. Lead roles include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), and Despina (Così fan tutte) as well as roles in Suor Angelica, Gallantry, La serva padrona, City of Angels, and Beauty and the Beast. Jourdan Laine originated the role of Florinda in Seymour Barab's opera Gods of Mischief.

Jourdan Laine currently serves on the faculty of The University of Texas at San Antonio in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts Department of Music. Dr. Howell earned a DMA (vocal performance; opera direction and production) from The University of North Carolina Greensboro where she performed lead roles with the award-winning Opera Theatre (Mozart's Don Giovanni and Moore's Gallantry), and directed Jeremy Beck’s Review (2014), Gary Belshaw’s The Worst One Ever (2014), and co-directed the 2012 scenes program Love, Letters, and Lies. She completed both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance at The University of Texas at San Antonio where she performed in numerous productions and participated in the acclaimed outreach program Opera on the Run, which introduced elementary students throughout the greater San Antonio area to opera.

Jourdan Laine served as an invited panelist at the Opera America conference in Montreal, Canada, and has presented at the National Opera Conference (2020), and Southeastern Theatre Conference (2018) and has delivered numerous masterclasses and lectures in Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. In addition to her previous university appointments (Instructor of Voice, Southeastern Oklahoma State University & Adjunct Instructor, West Texas A&M University School of Music), Jourdan Laine proudly served as the Education & Community Engagement Manager for Palm Beach Opera where she oversaw existing education programs for learners of all ages and was responsible for the direction and development of future programming. During her tenure at Palm Beach Opera, Jourdan created several successful engagement programs including the nationally recognized Opera Out Loud program, OPERA: Our Story, and Story Time Series for which she authored two children's books.

With a firm belief in opera for all, Jourdan Laine focused on accessibility initiatives, creating the ANIMA program to reach adults who are unable to experience live theatre in the opera house, as well as enhancing the annual Children's Performance with a Touch Tour for audience members with visual impairments and the development of sensory-friendly components to serve persons on the Spectrum. In 2016, Jourdan was nominated & received Honorable Mention for Artshacker's Most Creative People in Arts Administration which highlights professionals throughout the US and Canada and whose inspired projects further the arts in their community and beyond. She was also awarded a grant to attend the annual Kennedy Center Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability in Washington, D.C.

As an arts administrator, Jourdan Laine worked to implement Do Something Different: Discover Opera, a marketing & engagement campaign to increase participation in all of the Opera's offerings. The campaign inspired several successful events including Crossings: Two Traditions. One Musical Heritage, a narrated concert experience that brought together musicians from both Opera and the Spiritual genres. In 2018, Jourdan Laine presented a case study at the Southeastern Theatre Conference on the Do Something Different: Discover Opera campaign alongside her campaign partners.

While at Palm Beach Opera, Jourdan Laine greatly enriched and grew Palm Beach Opera Studio, a rigorous seven-month training program for select high school voices, and the third tier of the company's celebrated artist training system. Outside of the Opera, she served as the vocal technician for Dreyfoos School of the Arts, a nationally acclaimed institution where she trained voice students, worked with collaborative piano students, and taught private lessons through the DSOA Foundation's Ray of Light program.

Jourdan Laine Howell is a student of Dr. Diana Allan and Dr. Robert Wells.