Musicians

Violin
· Brian Lewis, Concertmaster
· Brinna Brinkerhoff
· Aloysia Friedmann
· Jonathan Godfrey
· Andrés González
· Rachel Jordan
· Rasa Kalesnykaite
· Kana Kimura
· Maxine Kuo
· Tammy Linn
· Deborah Tien Price
· Oleg Sulyga
· Amy Thiaville

Viola
· Matt Dane
· Suzanne LeFevre
· Tawnya Popoff
· Lorento Golofeev

Cello
· Richard Belcher
· Julia Cleworth
· Erika Johnson
· Shino Hayashi

Bass
· Sandor Ostlund
· Erik Gronfor

Harp
· Mollie Marcuson

Flute/Piccolo
· Christina Jennings
· Jennifer Keeney

Oboe
· Alecia Lawyer

Clarinet
· Nathan Williams
· Maiko Sasaki

Bassoon
· Kristin Wolfe Jensen
· Daniel Chrisman

Horn
· Danielle Kuhlmann
· Gavin Reed

Trumpet
· Jens Lindemann
· Dan Shipman
· George Chase

Trombone
· Brian Logan

Percussion
· Matthew McClung

Piano
· Kimi Kawashima
· Rodney Waters

Rachel Jordan Instrument: Violin Originally from: New Orleans, LA Now reside in: Jackson, MS Birthday: I'm a Cancer

How did you get started? I started playing at 7 years old. I heard Isaac Stern on TV when I was about 5 years old, I knew that was what I wanted to be. My parents bought me a toy violin that I played so well, it broke. I hid it and told my parents I needed a real instrument. Fast Forward: My brother and sister started taking lessons. I was at a lesson where my sister Steph was not doing so well. I picked up the instrument and played. Needless to say, the teacher told my Dad that I should take my sister's lesson. It all worked out in the end, as she is a Fabulous Jazz Singer.

How long have you performed with ROCO? I have performed 3 years. The first year I was asked was after the big storm and my big accident where my arm was also broken.

What do you do when you’re not playing with ROCO? I am a professor at Jackson State, I have a group in NOLA called Music Alive, I sometimes perform with my family, and I eat and watch the Saints on Sunday.

What are you listening to on your iPod? Well, that's a hard one. I listen to so many things. I love Lady Day, and Shirley Horn, my sister too (she would kill me), I love Emil Gillels, Coltrane, Tupac, Pearlman, Argerich, Lewis (he would kill me too), Chaka Khan, Jazz and classical with some rap mixed in. It just depends.

What did you do this summer? I have been involved with a special seminar at the university. Our aim has been to develop a new program/curriculum to improve critical thinking at the university (a month long seminar). I have also performed concerts with my family. Noted performance includes a concert at the North Carolina Theatre.

Personal info: Single and, oh well, available.

Question you're asked most often: How did your Momma take all that practicing in the house? My Dad, my two brothers, my sister and I are professional musicians. I think she was a saint.

Interests outside music: I love art, and being outdoors. I love my big New Orleans family gatherings which happen once a week. We really know how to throw a Throw Down.

Education: BM and MM, Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University

Bio: Rachel Jordan is a Professor of Music at Jackson State University and a member of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas. Ms. Jordan has served as adjunct faculty at Xavier University, Southern University, and Dillard University. She was also a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans.

Ms. Jordan received both her Bachelor of Music and her Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland where she studied with Berl Senofsky.

Ms. Jordan has performed with her siblings for Jazz at Lincoln Center Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert. Rachel also performs on and is the executive producer of the Marlon Jordan featuring Stephanie Jordan CD titled “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” In addition, Ms. Jordan co-manages J Group Consulting, a family music management entity.

Rachel has been a featured performer in numerous solo recitals, most notably the Kennedy Center, the Mozart Festival in Salzburg, Austria, the Music Center of Houston, and the Mozart Festival in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Ms. Jordan performed “The Lark Ascending” with Jackson State University Orchestra for the Congressional Black Caucus inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama.

While at Dillard University, Rachel Jordan started the Jesse Dent Recital series, which features African American Musicians performing classical music. She also produces the annual "An Afternoon of Classical Music" chamber music series sponsored by the New Orleans Chapter of the Links and a fully staged jazz concert entitled “Stephanie with Strings.”

Ms. Jordan is also the founding director and artistic director of the “Music Alive Ensemble”, which is a blend of professional classical and jazz musicians, composers, and arrangers. Music Alive ensemble through it’s concerts perpetuates cultural diversity and finds common ground through collaboration.

Rachel is the fifth performer from a family of New Orleans bred musicians. She is the daughter of saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan. Siblings include flutist Kent, trumpeter Marlon, and vocalist Stephanie Jordan.