Irene Jordan
Irene Jordan Caplan (born April 25, 1919 in Birmingham; died May 13, 2016 in Dalton, Massachusetts) was a featured soprano for the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1946 and 1947.
Irene was one of ten children born to bandleader Eugene Jordan and his wife, the former Sarah Ann Whitehurst. Her parents brought her to see Rosa Raisa sing the role of Aida with the Chicago Civic Opera in Birmingham on March 1, 1926. In 1935 she enrolled at Judson College in Perry County to study voice and piano. She graduated in 1939 and remained at Judson for a year as a voice instructor before making her move to New York City.
In New York Jordan began taking voice lessons from Nico Charisse. She also took ballet classes and studied German, French and Italian. In 1946 she auditioned as a mezzo-soprano for the Metropolitan Opera, hoping to get advice on her prospects. She was initially offered a position in the chorus, but that offer was immediately superseded by a contract to replace Martha Lipton alongside Lily Pons in a production of Léo Delibes' Lakmé, which was just three weeks from opening. She made her debut on the Met stage on November 11 of that year, made up to look like an Indian servant girl. During her debut year, Jordan appeared 49 times and was described in LIFE magazine as "the Met's prettiest new star."
During rehearsals, Jordan caught the eye of Metropolitan orchestra violinist Arnold Caplan. The couple were married in Birmingham on June 10, 1947 and welcomed a son, Joel, on February 6, 1948. Irene continued to perform in the early months of her pregnancy, but stepped away from the stage before the end of the season.
As a young mother, Caplan devoted the next few years to learning the art of the dramatic coloratura soprano. Her efforts won acclaim when she returned in the role of Eglantine in a 1953 performance of Carl Maria von Weber's Euryanthe, staged by Thomas Sherman and the Little Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
References
- Moore, Edward C. (1930) Forty Years of Opera in Chicago, Horace Liveright p. 397
External links
- Irene Caplan at Findagrave.com