The 2025 George London Award Winners Revealed

The winners of the 53rd George and Nora London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, one of the opera world’s oldest and most prestigious competitions, were revealed at the conclusion of the competition’s final round this evening, which took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City for in-person and online audiences.
 
A total of $74,000 was given in awards, announced by George and Nora London Foundation President John Hauser. Of the singers (selected from 175 applicants) heard over three days of semi-final rounds, 12 were selected as finalists to perform at the Morgan. Of these, five were named winners of George London Awards of $12,000 each. The remaining seven singers were awarded George London Encouragement Awards of $2,000 each.

Each finalist performed one selection, and the winners were announced to the audience immediately after the judges’ deliberations. This year’s judges were soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Susan Quittmeyer, tenor Dimitri Pittas, bass James Morris, and Gayletha Nichols, soprano and former Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, who chaired the jury. Lachlan Glen was the competition’s pianist.
 

GEORGE LONDON AWARDS ($12,000 each):
 

Alec Carlson, tenor (33, Red Oak, IA), who sang “Grimes’s Mad Scene” from Britten’s Peter Grimes – George London Award in memory of Lloyd E. Rigler, sponsored by The Lloyd E. Rigler and Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, James D. Rigler, President
 
Shelén Hughes, soprano (28, Cochabamba, Bolivia), who sang the “Snow Maiden’s Aria” from Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden – George London Award in memory of Leonie Rysanek, sponsored by an anonymous donor
 
Magdalena Kuźma, soprano (28, New York, NY), who sang “Ha! Dzieciatko nam umiera” from Stanislaw Moniuszko’s Halka – George London Award in memory of Mary Palumbo, sponsored by Donald Palumbo
 
Evan Lazdowski, bass-baritone (26, Moultonborough, NH), who sang “When my cue comes, call me” from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – George London Award sponsored by the New York Community Trust and the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
 
Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone (27, Baltimore, MD), who sang “A dream wasted” from William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA – George London Award in memory of Norma Newton, sponsored by the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
 

GEORGE LONDON ENCOURAGEMENT AWARDS ($2,000 each):
 

Emily Damasco, soprano (24, Glen Mills, PA) – Award in memory of Dr. Herbert Appel, sponsored by Susan Appel
 
Sam Dhobhany, bass-baritone (23, Brooklyn, NY) – Award in memory of Herbert J. Frank – sponsored by David Shustak and the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
 
Ruby Dibble, mezzo-soprano (29, Kansas City, MO) – Award in memory of Jaclyn Elyn, sponsored by the estate of Mark Elyn
 
Rachel Kobernick, soprano (26, West Chester, PA) – Award in memory of Lois Kirschenbaum, sponsored by the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
 
Dalia Medovnikov, soprano (23, Woodbridge, CT) – Award in memory of J. Donald McNamara sponsored by Lynn Broward McNamara
 
Korin Thomas-Smith, baritone (28, Toronto, Canada) – Award in memory of Jaclyn Elyn, sponsored by the estate of Mark Elyn
 
Alan Williams, bass (31, San Bernardino, CA) – Award in memory of Lois Kirschenbaum, sponsored by the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
 
Since 1971, the foundation’s annual competition has given more than 300 awards, and a total of more than $2 million, to an outstanding roster of young American and Canadian opera singers who have gone on to international stardom – the list of past winners includes Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Ryan Speedo Green, Catherine Malfitano, James Morris, Eric Owens, Dimitri Pittas, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Neil Shicoff, Dawn Upshaw, and Willard White, to name just a few.  As The New York Times noted, “this prestigious competition … can rightfully claim to act as a springboard for major careers in opera.”
 
Megan Moore Performs the World Premiere of Crossing Borders, A Song Cycle Based on Nora London’s WWII Diary, by Jake Heggie, on April 6
To mark the 30th anniversary of its annual recital series by George London Award winners, the London Foundation has made its first commission of a composition: a song cycle by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer based upon the WWII diaries of Nora London, telling the dramatic story of her family’s escape from France to America when she was 16 years old. Crossing Borders will have its world premiere performed by mezzo-soprano Megan Moore, a 2022 George London Award winner, at her recital at The Morgan on Sunday, April 6, at 4 pm. She will also perform music by Rossini, Strozzi, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev with pianist Francesco Barfoed.
 
George London and the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers
George London (1920-1985) was one of the greatest opera stars of the 20th century, who blazed a trail for American singers on the international stage and created some of the most indelible interpretations of prominent bass-baritone roles. In his later years, he devoted much of his time and energy to the support and nurturing of young singers, in partnership with his wife, Nora. 

In addition to the annual competition, the George and Nora London Foundation also presents a recital series to give grantees exposure and experience, and, in many cases, a New York recital debut. The foundation also awards scholarships to promising high school students attending the pre-college program of The Juilliard School, a program now in its 12th year.