George London Foundation For Singers Announces Events for 2021-22 at The Morgan Library & Museum

The George London Foundation for Singers will present two events at New York's Morgan Library and Museum in the 2021-22 season: the finals of the 50th annual George London Foundation Competition for American and Canadian opera singers, postponed from early 2021, and a recital by the exciting young tenor and 2017 George London Award winner Aaron Blake, with pianist Ken Noda, marking the resumption of the foundation's annual recital series.

The George London Award, the top prize of one of the most prestigious vocal competitions in North America, is an honor that has been given to hundreds of the best young singers since 1971. The award and the George London Foundation are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone who was one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century. London later became Artistic Director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Director of the National Opera Institute, as well as the head of the Washington Opera.

The foundation also awards scholarships to promising high school students attending the pre-college programs of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, a program now in its 12th year.

"It was particularly painful to have to postpone the 50th anniversary event of our competition last season," said the foundation's president Nora London. "So next February, we will celebrate both the half-century mark of the George London Awards and what we hope will be the full revitalization of the concert and opera world."

The George London Foundation Competition Finals- Friday, February 25, 2022, at 4:00 pm

After semi-final rounds earlier in the week (February 21-23), the competition's final round and awards announcement will take place as a public event on Friday, February 25, at 4:00 pm at New York's Morgan Library & Museum.

The competition typically confers five George London Awards of $10,000 each. The remaining finalists receive Encouragement Awards of $1,000.

Since 1971, the 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 Christine Brewer, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Catherine Malfitano, James Morris, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Neil Shicoff, and Dawn Upshaw. As The New York Times recently noted, "this prestigious competition ... can rightfully claim to act as a springboard for major careers in opera."

The George London Foundation Recital Series: Aaron Blake, tenor, with Ken Noda, piano - Sunday, April 24, 2022, at 4:00 pm

Aaron Blake, a 2017 George London Award winner, has received recent acclaim for performances in some of the opera world's most prominent productions: the role of Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears's Fellow Travelers; a New York City Opera debut as Louis in Peter Eötvös' operatic adaptation of Angels in America; The High Priest of Amon in Philip Glass's Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera; and Tamino in the Komische Oper Berlin production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. www.aaronblaketenor.com

The George London Foundation Recital Series, which began at the Morgan in 1995, was established to give grantees exposure and experience, and, in many cases, a New York recital debut. Each recital features recent award winners, sometimes paired with a well-known international artist - often a past George London Award winner - that have in recent years included Joyce DiDonato, Eric Owens, Stephen Costello, Ailyn Perez, Matthew Polenzani, Christine Brewer, Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, René Pape, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Dawn Upshaw.

Every year since 2010, the George London Foundation has given scholarships to a few selected vocal students in the pre-college programs of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. Over 11 years, the program has awarded over $90,000.

The goal of the George London Foundation, the support and nurturing of young singers, was an abiding interest of the great Canadian-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. www.georgelondon.org.

See the full list of George London Award winners: www.georgelondon.org/competition

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