The 50th Annual George London Foundation Competition Has Been Rescheduled To April 2021

The 50th annual George London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, originally scheduled for February, has been rescheduled to take place in April 2021 in New York City in order to allow for greater ease of travel for the competitors.

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 is one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century.

The deadline for online application submission, at www.georgelondon.org/competition, is now April 5. The semi-final auditions for invited singers and the finals (without audience this year) will take place in person in the last week of April. All events will observe rigorous Covid-19 protocols, with judges, singers, and staff appropriately distanced and masked, except during singing.

The competition will confer five George London Awards of $10,000 each. The remaining finalists will receive Encouragement Awards of $1,000. The competition jury includes soprano Harolyn Blackwell, bass James Morris, mezzo-soprano Susan Quittmeyer, and George London Foundation Executive Director John Hauser. The pianist is Michael Fennelly.

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.

George London Foundation Competition

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.