Young Artists to Compete in 41st Annual George London Awards 2/13-17

Over three days of preliminary auditions on February 13-15, 2012, ninety of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 41st annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

On Friday, February 17, approximately 25 finalists will perform for the judges and audience, hoping to win a George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the continent’s best young singers since 1971.

The singers will be competing for One George London Award of $10,000 One George London Award, in memory of Lloyd Rigler, of $10,000, One George London/Leonie Rysanek Award of $10,000 One George London Award given to a Canadian singer, of $10,000 One George London/Kirsten Flagstad Award sponsored by the New York Community Trust, of $10,000, given to a potential Wagnerian singer Five George London Encouragement Awards of $1,000. In addition, all of the finalists who do not win George London Awards or Encouragement Awards will be given a $500 Honorable Mention.

The competition’s final round is a public event: each singer performs one selection, and the winners are then announced, all at The Morgan Library & Museum’s Gilder Lehrman Hall on Friday, February 17, 2012, at 4:00 PM. After the finalists’ performances, the audience is invited to a reception while the judges deliberate. Once the awards have been decided upon, the audience is invited back for the announcement of the winners.

Tickets for the competition’s final round are priced at $20, $10 for subscribers to the George London Foundation Recital Series. For tickets, information, or to join London Foundation mailing list, call (212) 956-2809, or e-mail info@georgelondon.org.

This year’s panel of judges includes artist manager Ken Benson; opera stage director Bruce Donnell; former Metropolitan Opera administrator Alfred F. Hubay; George London Foundation President Nora London; mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer; former Metropolitan Opera leading tenor and current voice professor George Shirley; and performing arts consultant Thurmond Smithgall. The competition pianist is Linda Hall.

The 2011 George London Award winners were tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Jonathan Beyer, baritone Alexander Hajek, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, baritone Edward Parks III, and soprano Emalie Savoy.

Since 1971, the annual competition of The George London Foundation for Singers has been giving its George London 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 Christine Brewer, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Catherine Malfitano, James Morris, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Neil Shicoff, and Dawn Upshaw. One of the oldest vocal competitions in the United States and Canada, the George London Foundation Awards Competition offers among the most substantial awards.

As is seldom the case in musical competitions, no fee is charged to the applicants or competitors, a pianist is provided for the competition rounds, and prizes are awarded immediately.

The goal of the London Foundation, the support and nurturing of young singers, was an abiding interest of the great American bass-baritone George London, who devoted a great part of the time and energy of his later years to this purpose. “Remembering his difficult road to success, George wanted to devise a way to make the road a little easier for future generations of singers,” said George London Foundation President Nora London. Initially created under the auspices of the National Opera Institute, the George London Awards program has been administered since 1990 directly by the Foundation as a living legacy to George London’s own exceptional talent and generosity.