The 50th Annual George London Foundation Competition Is Postponed To 2022

The 50th annual George London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, which was scheduled to take place in April 2021, has been postponed until next year.

One of the oldest and most prestigious vocal competitions in North America, the competition confers the George London Award, an honor that has been given to hundreds of the best young singers since 1971. The award and the foundation are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone who was one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century.

"While the overall health situation is improving both across the country and in New York City, we see that it is not yet where it needs to be for us to hold the event as safely and effectively as we would like," said Nora London, the foundation's president, and John Hauser, its executive director, in a statement. The event had been originally slated for February of this year, and was then rescheduled to April.

"We are happy to announce, however, the confirmed dates for the competition in 2022: semi-final rounds February 21-23, and the final round on February 25, which we look forward to holding with an audience as we always do." The final round is a public event 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. The 2020 George London Award winners were sopranos Jessica Faselt and Jana McIntyre and mezzo-sopranos Katherine Beck, Lindsay Kate Brown, and Anne Maguire. The 2020 competition took place in February, just before the Covid-19 pandemic brought concerts to an international halt.

Since 1971, the annual competition of The George London Foundation for Singers 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 Awards Competition offers among the most substantial awards of any international vocal competition. As is seldom the case, 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 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. The organization also presents the annual George London Foundation Recital Series, which presents pairs of outstanding opera singers, many of whom were winners of a George London Award. www.georgelondon.org.

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