James Jorden

Who is James Jorden?

James Jorden, born 1954, is an American journalist, music critic, and opera director. He is the founding editor of the popular e-zine-cum-blog parterre box which covers the topic of opera from a queer perspective. Jorden's work with parterre box also includes a widely-regarded podcast, Unnatural Acts of Opera. parterre box and Jorden have been featured in numerous notable media publications, including Opera News magazine, The Advocate, and The New York Times. From 1999 to 2003, Jorden produced and directed a series of operas at the downtown NYC cabaret La Belle Epoque, featuring singers including Marc Heller, Richard Lewis and Dorothy Bishop. He is also a former Web producer for Fox News. Until 2013, he was also employed full-time as a legal secretary. After 10 years as a reviewer for Gay City News, Jorden became opera critic for The New York Post in March 2009, succeeding Clive Barnes. In the fall of 2014, Jorden left the Post to write about opera for The New York Observer, and he also is a regular commentator on the WQXR podcast Operavore.