43rd Annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for Opera Singers Announces Winners

The winners of the 43rd annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of a capacity audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

A total of $83,000 was given in awards. After three days of preliminary auditions during which 77 singers were heard, 25 were selected as finalists. Of these, seven were selected as winners of George London Awards of $10,000 each and eight were given George London Foundation Encouragement Awards of $1,000 each. The remaining 10 finalists received $500 Honorable Mention awards.

George London AWARDS ($10,000 each):

Jennifer Johnson Cano, Mezzo-soprano, 29 - George London-Norma Newton Award

Ray Chenez, Countertenor, 29 - George London Award sponsored by The Lissner Charitable Fund

Tracy Cox, Soprano, 28 - George London-Kirsten Flagstad Award (sponsored by the New York Community Trust) for a potential Wagnerian singer

Norman Garrett, Baritone, 32 - George London Award in memory of Lloyd Rigler

Ryan Speedo Green, Bass-baritone, 27 - George London Award

Marina Harris, Soprano, 28 - George London-Leonie Rysanek Award

Cameron McPhail, Baritone, 29 - George London Award sponsored by Liliane and Robert Brochu (for a Canadian singer)

George London FOUNDATION ENCOURAGEMENT AWARDS ($1,000 each):

Gerard Michael D'Emilio, Bass-baritone, 24 (In memory of Theodore Uppman)

Julia Dawson, Mezzo-soprano, 25 (For a Canadian singer)

Anthony Kalil, Tenor, 31 (Sponsored by the Lloyd E. Rigler - Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation)

Catherine Martin, Mezzo-soprano, 29

Rebecca Pedersen, Soprano, 22 (In memory of Robert Jacobson)

Reginald Smith, Jr., Baritone, 25

Elizabeth Sutphen, Soprano, 23 (Sponsored by Henry and Diana Asher)

Brian Vu, Baritone, 24 (In memory of Herbert J. Frank)

This year's panel of judges included 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 was Liora Maurer, an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.

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 Legacy of George London: 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. Visit www.georgelondon.org for more information.

2014 George London Award Winners:

Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano (St. Louis, MO) is a 2012 Richard Tucker Career Grant, Opera Index Winner, and 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant recipient. She joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera in 2008 and made her Met debut in 2009-2010. As First Prize winner of the 2009 Young Concert Artist International Auditions, she was awarded the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Princeton University Prizes and has given stunning recital debuts at Merkin Hall and the Kennedy Center, and in Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, and Chicago. Following performances at The Metropolitan Opera as Mercedes, Emilia, Wellgunde and Waltraute last season, Ms. Cano debuted this season as Meg Page in Falstaff and Bersi in Andrea Chenier. Other operatic debuts include The Sharp Eared Fox in Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen with The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Moest in May and Marguerite in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in collaboration with the Tucson Symphony and Tucson Desert Song Festival in February 2014. In addition to her continued relationship with The Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Cano has appeared with esteemed orchestras as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Ms. Cano is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and earned her bachelor's degree in music from Webster University and her master's degree from Rice University. www.jenniferjohnsoncano.net

Ray Chenez, countertenor (Lockport, NY), is a rising young countertenor in both opera and concert. In the 2013-14 season, Chenez makes his Canadian opera debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Pacific Opera Victoria. In the 2014-2015 season, he makes his debut with Syracuse Opera as Sesto in Giulio Cesare. Recent operatic highlights include Orphée in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice as a studio artist with Opera Santa Barbara, Arsamene in Handel's Serse and Oberon in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Florida State Opera, and Purcell's Dioclesian at the Amherst Early Music Festival.

In the 2013-14 season, Chenez appeared as a soloist with Chicago's Music of the Baroque under internationally acclaimed tenor and conductor Paul Agnew. Concert highlights include performances of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Missa Brevis with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, Sursum Corda and the Fredonia Symphony Orchestra, Britten's Canticle II and Canticle IV, Bach cantatas 62, 133, and 153 with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Handel's Messiah, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, and the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610. A winner of the 2013 Metropolitan Opera District Auditions, Chenez has claimed numerous operatic prizes including the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, Orpheus Vocal Competition, and the Suncoast Opera Guild Competition. A native of New York State, Chenez holds degrees in vocal performance from SUNY Fredonia and Florida State University. www.raychenez.com

Tracy Cox, soprano (Dallas, TX), recently completed her third year as a Domingo- Thornton Young Artist at Los Angeles Opera. While with LA Opera, she made her professional debut as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Plácido Domingo, and sang the roles of Pisana in I due Foscari as well as the Female Chorus in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. In 2013 she sang the role of Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff at Wolf Trap Opera, and in May she made her debut with the Cincinnati Symphony in the title role of Debussy's La damoiselle élue. In June 2012, she made her International concert debut at the Vishnevskaya Opera Center in Moscow, and has since performed throughout Hungary with both the Philharmonic Orchestra of Györ as well as Budapest's famed MÁV Symphony Orchestra. Tracy was awarded the Birgit Nilsson prize at the 2013 Operalia Competition in Verona, and was a National Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Cox was also named a 2013 recipient of the prestigious Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and received an Emerging Artist award from the 2013 Opera Index Competition. Ms. Cox won the 2012 Marilyn Horne Song Competition, and was presented in recital by the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, and the National Opera Center in New York City. The artist received her master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and studies with Dr. Stephen King of Rice University. www.tracycoxmusic.com

Norman Garrett, baritone (Lubbock, TX), recently made his Wolf Trap Opera Company debut performing the roles of Ford from Verdi's Falstaff and Il Barone di Trombonok from Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims as a 2013 Filene Young Artist. He was seen earlier this season at Washington National Opera [WNO] as Der Stuermann in Tristan und Isolde. Currently a Domingo-Cafritz Artist at WNO Mr. Garrett will be seen mainstage in Moby Dick, Die Zauberflöte and in the World Premier of Jeanine Tesori's Lion, Unicorn and Me. He is a former resident artist of the Academy of Vocal Arts, and has been seen on stage with Glimmerglass Festival, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Washington National Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara and more. From 2012 to 2013 he won prizes in 13 different international vocal competitions including those of the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, Jensen Foundation, Giulio Gari, Ft. Worth McCammon, Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, and more. In 2014 Norman will make mainstage appearances at Chicago Lyric Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, and Washington National Opera.

Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone (Suffolk, VA), is in his third year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. In the 2013-2014 season, Mr. Speedo Green returns to the Met stage to sing Bonze in Madama Butterfly and The Jailer in Tosca. In the 2012-2013 season, Mr. Speedo Green made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut singing the Mandarin in Turandot and the Second Knight in Parsifal. In the 2014-2015 season, Mr. Speedo Green will become a full company member of the Wiener Staatsoper. He has made debuts with Utah Opera singing Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville and Don Profondo in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims with Wolf Trap Opera. Mr. Green made his Met debut performing in the Met's 2011 Summer Recital Series. Mr. Speedo Green was also a featured soloist showcasing the compositions of Carlisle Floyd in a celebration of his 85th birthday with the Florida State University Department of Music directed by Carlisle Floyd. As a resident artist with Opera Colorado, he performed Colline in La bohème and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola. In the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Mr. Green was a National Grand Finals Winner. He is also the recipient of a 2011 Sara Tucker Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and a recent finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Competition. Mr. Speedo Green received his Master of Music Degree from Florida State University and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music. http://ryanspeedogreen.com/

Marina Harris, soprano (Whittier, CA), has been praised in the San Francisco Chronicle for her "knockout combination of vocal power and expressive eloquence." As a second year Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera, last season she sang in three world premieres with the company; as Susan Sowerby in Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden, Tamar in Mark Adamo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and a Maid in Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne. Recently, Ms. Harris recently garnered national attention as a last minute replacement for Patricia Racette in the role of Elena in Boito's Mefistofele, the season opener for the San Francisco Opera. A graduate of the prestigious Merola Opera Program and the Music Academy of the West, Marina's recent stage experience includes diverse repertoire such as Geraldine in Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge, Berta in IL Barbiere di Siviglia, Arminda in Mozart's La finta giardiniera, Miss Jessel in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, and Arabella in scenes from Richard Strauss' Arabella. In 2012, she won first place in the James M. Collier Young Artist Vocal Competition and the Henry and Maria Holt Memorial Vocal Scholarship Competition. Earlier this month, Harris made her solo recital debut as part of Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series. She received her bachelor's degree from California State University Long Beach and a Graduate Certificate in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California. Marina currently studies with Cesar Ulloa.

Cameron McPhail, baritone (Toronto, Ontario), joined the Canadian Opera Company for the 2012-13 season as a member of the Ensemble Studio where he made his company debut as Premiere Officier in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites. During the 2013-14 season he returns to Canadian Opera Company with mainstage appearances as Schaunard in La bohème, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, and Silvano in Un ballo in maschera; along with covering Ned Keene in Peter Grimes and The Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux. Mr. McPhail completed his Master of Music Degree at the Yale University School of Music in 2012, where his roles with Yale Opera included Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He also recently performed Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress as a fellow at Music Academy of the West. Previous seasons have seen Cameron McPhail perform many of Mozart's lead roles including both the title role and Masetto in Don Giovanni and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. Other favorite roles include the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Marcello and Schaunard in La bohème, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Escamillo in Carmen, and Ford in Falstaff. Several upcoming engagements include Marcello in La bohème with Opera on the Avalon, and Carmina Burana with the Florida Orchestra and The Lanaudiere Festival.

Pictured: George London Foundation President Nora London, center, with 2014 George London Award winners (left to right) Norman Garrett, Cameron McPhail, Marina Harris, Tracy Cox, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Ray Chenez, and Ryan Speedo Green. Photo by Shawn Ehlers.

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