The SSO loves being able to showcase the exceptional talents that comes out of our community – so its no surprise we’re excited to work with Jardena Gertler-Jaffe as she makes her SSO debut.
Hailed for her rich, full sound, Jardena Gertler-Jaffe is a mezzo soprano from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A graduate of the Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Toronto (2015), Jardena is also an alumna of celebrated training programs SongFest and Opera NUOVA. Her past voice teachers include Nancy Argenta, Monica Whicher and Patrick Raftery, and she is currently studying with Audrey B. Luna in Cincinnati, Ohio.
As a studied performer of Baroque style, Jardena has appeared as a soloist with Victoria Baroque, The Okanagan Festival Singers, Cor Unum Ensemble, and Toronto’s Theatre of Early Music. Jardena’s recent opera credits include singing the roles of Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Victoria Conservatory of Music), Molly/ Nephthys/ Tahemet in Dean Burry’s Isis and the Seven Scorpions (Saskatoon Opera in Schools), Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (Saskatoon Opera in Schools), and Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas (University of Toronto).
While performing is her main focus, Jardena also completed a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto in November 2017. Jardena continually seeks to incorporate her research interests, concerning the construction of musical and cultural identities in the face of oppression, into her artistic practice.