44th Annual George London Foundation Awards Competition Set for 2/27

Over three days of preliminary auditions on February 23-25, 2015, 90 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 44th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

On February 27, 24 finalists will perform for the judges and an enthusiastic audience, hoping to win a George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the best young singers since 1971.

The competition's final round is a public event: each singer performs one selection, and the winners are announced, all at The Morgan Library & Museum's Gilder Lehrman Hall on Friday, February 27, at 4:00 PM. After the finalists' performances, the audience is invited to a reception while the judges deliberate. The audience is then asked back into the hall for the announcement of the winners.

The singers will be competing for five George London Awards of $10,000 each, and five George London Encouragement Awards of $1,000 each. In addition, all of the finalists who do not win George London Awards or Encouragement Awards will be given a $500 Honorable Mention.

This year's panel of judges includes opera stage director Bruce Donnell, soprano and San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald, former Metropolitan Opera administrator Alfred F. Hubay, George London Foundation President Nora London, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, and tenor and voice professor George Shirley. The competition pianist is Linda Hall.

The 2014 George London Award winners were sopranos Tracy Cox and Marina Harris, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, countertenor Ray Chenez, baritones Norman Garrett and Cameron McPhail, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green.

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.

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.

After the competition, the George London Foundation's 2014-15 season continues with the final duo recital of the season:

• Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor, and Nadine Sierra, soprano, with Bryan Wagorn, piano. Both Mr. Costanzo and Ms. Sierra won their George London Awards in 2010, and they recently collaborated in a staged performance of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass festival. Sunday, March 22, 2015, at 4:30 PM.

George London Award Winners on WQXR's Young Artists Showcase with Robert Sherman

Two 2014 George London Award winners, baritone Norman Garrett and soprano Marina Harris, with pianist Ken Noda, will be featured in the February 25 segment of The McGraw Hill Financial Young Artists Showcase, hosted by Robert Sherman, which airs on WQXR on Wednesday nights at 9:00 PM and is also available for online streaming.

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.

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