George London Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 50th George London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. While the event is usually held with in-person audience, this year's audience was virtual. Susanna Phillips, international opera star and 2005 George London Award winner, was the livestream host.

The event is now available to watch on demand on the George London Foundation's YouTube channel. A total of $64,000 was given in awards. Of the singers heard over three days of semi-final rounds, 12 were selected as finalists to perform at the Morgan. Of these, five were selected as winners of George London Awards of $10,000 each. The remaining seven singers were awarded George London Encouragement Awards of $2,000 each.

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."

In the production of Terence Blanchard's opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones that opened the Metropolitan Opera's 2021-22 season, six George London Award winners were featured in the cast: Will Liverman, Latonia Moore, Ryan Speedo Green, Norman Garrett, Donovan Singletary, and Errin Duane Brooks.

One of the oldest vocal competitions in the United States and Canada, the George London Foundation 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.

"I have known for three generations how difficult the career of an opera singer remains," said George London Foundation President Nora London at the announcement of the 2020 George London Awards. "This all started because George wanted to help - and now we have been giving these awards for almost 50 years." See the full list of George London Award winners here.

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.

Photo Credits: Jennifer Taylor

Pictured in Photo: Event host Susanna Phillips, third from right, with 2022 George London Award winners (left to right) Erik Grendahl, Timothy Murray, Blake Denson, Megan Moore, and Eric Ferring.

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