Jordan Rutter is a countertenor based in New York City currently building a career specializing in Baroque music and contemporary opera.
An avid participant in the development and performance of new opera, Rutter has worked as an artist for workshops of operas with The American Opera Project including The House of Legendary (Joseph Rubinstein / Jason Kim) and Jing Jing Luo’s Ashima for countertenor and Pierrot ensemble. In 2020, Rutter made their debut with American Lyric Theater in a workshop of The Opposable Thumb (Liliya Ugay / Julian Crouch). In 2015, Rutter participated in the workshop and world premiere of Three Way (Paterson / Coté) with Nashville Opera and in New York City at Brooklyn Academy of Music and can be heard on the original cast recording published by American Modern Recordings. A recent highlight of Rutter’s career was their debut with Chicago Opera Theater in the second production of The Scarlet Ibis (Weisman / Coté) in the leading role of Doodle, giving a performance noted for its “virtuosic vocal facility” (Chicagoland Musical Theater 2/18/19).
In addition to their work in full productions, Rutter is a frequent guest artist with The American Opera Project’s and NYU Tisch Graduate Music Theater Writing Program’s Opera Writing Workshop, working with students and alumni of the program to develop short operas on contemporary topics. Previous projects have included The Dinner Party Operas in response to Judy Chicago’s feminist art installation The Dinner Party, and The Stonewall Operas in commemoration of the semi-centennial anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The Climate Operas, set for 2020, was postponed due to the CoViD-19 pandemic.
In the Baroque repertoire, Rutter has performed the role of the Sorceress in Dido & Aeneas with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, covered the role with Heartbeat Opera, and was set to perform it again with Cerddorion before the production’s postponement due to the CoViD-19 pandemic. Rutter served as co-curator and performer in operamission’s 2016 series of original pastiches 53rd St. Handel at the 53rd St. Library in New York City. Rutter joined Opera at Rutgers for their production of Venus & Adonis as the 3rd Shepherd and Huntsman under the baton of Dr. Patrick Gardner and the direction of Dietlinde Turbin Maazel. Most recently, Rutter covered the role of Nero in a workshop of a new adaptation of Monteverdi’s Poppea by James Lowe and Kelly Rourke with Fort Worth Opera. On concert stages, Rutter has regularly performed in Handel’s Messiah and joined the Academy of Sacred Drama as Oloferne in their performance of Scarlatti’s La Giuditta.
A noted performer of Benjamin Britten’s vocal music, Rutter recently was praised for their “riveting” performance as Miles in The Turn of the Screw with On Site Opera (Opera News 1/25/20). Rutter has also portrayed Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera on the Avalon and Canticle II: Abraham & Isaac in recital.
Rutter is a passionate recitalist and has designed several programs with a focus on songs from the American repertoire. Previous recital projects include Going to Heaven (Dowland lute songs, Bach Geist und Seele wird verwirret, selections from Copland 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson), Litanies (Schubert Lieder, Haydn Arianna a Naxos, Satie Trois mélodies de 1916, Hagen Letting Go), and The Cabaret Songs of William Bolcom performed at the Duplex Cabaret. Rutter has also collaborated with MET LiveArts in Mingwei Lee’s presentation of Sonic Blossoms, performing Schubert Lieder in the Metropolitan Museum’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and with Origin Theater Company in its production of Lot Vekemans’ POISON featuring Rutter singing Strauss and Schubert Lieder as incidental music.
Rutter holds a BM in Vocal Performance (University of North Florida) and a MM in Vocal Performance (Manhattan School of Music).
