Amanda Majeski & Ryan McKinny to Perform at The Morgan, 11/9

Soprano Amanda Majeski is a 2009 George London Award winner who just made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the Met's season-opening presentation of Le nozze di Figaro, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is a 2011 George London Award winner who this past summer sang the roles of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with the Los Angeles Opera and Billy Bigelow in Carousel at Glimmerglass Opera. Together, they will open the 2014-15 season of the George London Foundation for Singers with a joint recital at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library and Museum on Sunday, November 9, 2014, at 4:30 PM, with pianist Ken Noda. The event is Mr. McKinny's New York recital debut.

The George London Foundation Recital Series, which in 2014-15 marks its 20th year, presents pairs of outstanding opera singers, many of whom were winners of a George London prize early in their careers or are recent George London Award recipients. The foundation's season of events at The Morgan includes three joint recitals and the annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

Amanda Majeski will perform a set of songs by Strauss and "Non più di fiori" from Mozart's La clemenza di Tito. Ryan McKinny will sing three selections from Schubert's Schwanengesang (see full program below), "Die Frist ist um" from Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, and "Se vuol ballare" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Ms. Majeski will also sing "Das war sehr gut, Mandryka" from Strauss's Arabella, with Mr. McKinny joining her at the end of the aria, and the singers will conclude the program with the duet "If I Loved You" from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel.

The goal of the George 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. www.georgelondon.org

Soprano Amanda Majeski (2009 George London Award), a native of Gurnee, Illinois, is rapidly garnering critical acclaim for the "silvery beauty" (Musical America) of her voice coupled with "refined power, effortless dynamic control and warm tonal color" (San Francisco Chronicle). In addition to singing in the Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season opening night, she returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Marta in The Passenger and also to Oper Frankfurt in her first performances of Der Rosenkavalier as the Marschallin in a new Claus Guth production. Future seasons will see Ms. Majeski at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House - Covent Garden, Salzburg Easter Festival with Christian Thielemann, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zurich, Glyndebourne Festival, Washington National Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Opera Company of Philadelphia.

She highlighted her 2013-14 season with performances of the role of Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito conducted by Andrew Davis with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, about which the Chicago Tribune said, "Vitellia is the dramatic linchpin of 'Clemenza,' and Majeski ... brings fearless vocalism and feistiness to the royal schemer.... Her technique is equal to the murderous demands of Vitellia's bravura arias." That season began with a return to Oper Frankfurt for her role debut in a new production of Rusalka under Sebastian Weigle and then her debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Marguerite in Jan Philipp Gloger's new production of Faust. Ms. Majeski completed her graduate degree at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and was a member of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program in the summer of 2008. She has also been a member of the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Steans Institute at Ravinia. In addition to being a George London Award winner, Ms. Majeski is the first prizewinner of the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition Junior Division, and a recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. She has also received awards from Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Bel Canto Foundation of Rhode Island, the Bel Canto Foundation of Chicago, and Opera Index. www.amandamajeski.com

Bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (2011 George London Award), a native of southern California, has been praised for his "elegant and articulate" vocalism (OC Register), as well as a powerful voice that "drips with gold." (Opera News). He garnered praise for his debut as Kurwenal in Christof Loy's Houston Grand Opera production of Tristan und Isolde alongside Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme in 2013, and for performances also with that company in the title role of Rigoletto in early 2014, the Houston Chronicle saying, "Ryan McKinny's deep, resonant tones and bursts of power made Rigoletto's inner darkness hit home without theatrical gimmicks." Of his 2013 performance at Glimmerglass Opera in the title role of Flying Dutchman, The Wall Street Journal said, "the production boasted an excellent Dutchman, Ryan McKinny, whose rich bass-baritone and imposing presence brought unusually human, sexy and even pitiable depths to this cursed ship's captain." He also recently made his debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Melot in Peter Sellars's production of Tristan und Isolde under Ji?í B?lohlávek, sang in Britten's War Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, and debuted at Theater Basel as Nathanael in the world premiere Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini's Der Sandmann in a production by Christof Loy.

Mr. McKinny was the first recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner at Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition held at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He also represented the United States in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where he was a finalist in the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. He was a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and is featured in the film The Audition released by Decca on DVD. www.ryanmckinny.com

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