Susanna Phillips To Host The 50th George London Foundation Competition Finals
While the final round is usually a public event, this year it livestreamed free of charge on the foundation's website and social media.
By: A.A. Cristi Feb. 04, 2022
After a pandemic-induced postponement of one year, one of the opera world's oldest and most prestigious competitions is back on and will mark a milestone in 2022: the George London Foundation Competition will hold its 50th anniversary event in February, in-person for the singers and judges, in New York City. While the final round is usually a public event, this year it will be held without an audience but livestreamed free of charge on the foundation's website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel, as well as the Facebook page of The Morgan Library and Museum.
Susanna Phillips, one of today's most sought-after opera stars and a 2005 George London Award winner, will host the event.
After three days of semi-final rounds, on Friday, February 25, at 4:00 pm, roughly a dozen finalists, some of the best young opera singers from the U.S. and Canada, will perform with pianist Michael Fennelly before a panel of judges at The Morgan Library & Museum's Gilder Lehrman Hall. Each finalist performs one selection, and the winners are announced immediately after the judges' deliberations. Up to five singers will receive the George London Award, currently a $10,000 prize, and the remaining finalists will receive Encouragement Awards of $2,000.
The George London Foundation and Competition are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone who was one of the great opera singers of 20th century. Since 1971, the competition has given more than 300 awards, and a total of more than $2 million, to an outstanding roster of artists many of whom 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, to name just a few. As The New York Times recently noted, "this prestigious competition ... can rightfully claim to act as a springboard for major careers in opera."
This year's panel of judges includes soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Susan Quittmeyer, bass James Morris, and George London Foundation Executive Director John Hauser.
The livestream will be available at these pages:
George London Foundation website
George London Foundation Facebook page
George London YouTube channel
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.
See the full list of George London Award winners: www.georgelondon.org/competition
The second event in the George London Foundation's season is a recital by Aaron Blake, tenor, with Ken Noda, piano on Sunday, April 24, 2022, at 4:00 pm at The Morgan. 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.
George London maintained an interest in the support of young singers throughout his life. Following an acclaimed international singing career, London held positions as 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, and he devoted a great part of the time and energy of his later years to the nurturing of rising young artists. "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.
In addition to the annual competition, the George London Foundation also presents a recital series 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. 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.
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