OMEA 2002 Conference:

Jerry Jordan
All-State Choir Conductor

For twenty years Jerry Jordan led one of the most active and accomplished collegiate choral programs in the United States at the University of Mississippi. Under his direction, the University of Mississippi Concert Singers performed at national and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and won seven major international choral competitions in Europe. Among these were the Florilege Vocal De Tours (1994), the Gran Premio Europeo di Canto Corale (1998), and the mixed choir competition in the Choir Olympics 2000.

The American Choral Directors Association sponsored a national survey in 1989 that named Dr. Jordan as one of America's ten most highly recommended choral clinicians. In 1988, he made his New York City debut in the first of several performances in Lincoln Center. Commenting on his performance, the New York Daily News said, "Jerry Jordan led the choral works of Haydn, Gabrieli, Schubert and Stanford, and the immense chorus, taken from six US regions, sang most seraphically and cleanly despite its size." He also has been a regularly featured conductor in Carnegie Hall.

Dr. Jordan has twice served as a member of the jury at the Concorso Polifonica Internazionale Guido D'Arezzo in Arezzo, Italy, and served on the jury of the Florilege Vocal de Tours this June. He frequently serves on juries for the Musica Mundi international choral competitions in Europe and is a member of the artistic committees for Musica Mundi competitions in the United States and Austria. He has also taught conducting seminars or adjudicated at international choral competitions in Germany, Ireland, and Italy.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of Walton Music Corporation and is the editor of Walton's Ole Miss Choral Series. In 1993, Dr. Jordan edited and published the University of Mississippi Choral Performance Library. Mailed free to choral directors across the United States, this innovative edition of works was the first major publication that made traditional and new music immediately available by photocopy.