42nd Annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for Singers Runs Now thru March 1

Over three days of preliminary auditions today, February 25 through the 27th, 2013, approximately 90 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will compete to reach the final round of the 42nd annual George London Foundation Awards Competition.

On Friday, March 1, approximately 25 finalists will perform for the judges and audience, hoping to win a George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the best young singers since 1971.

The singers will be competing for six George London Awards and six George London Encouragement Awards:

Two George London Awards of $10,000
One George London Award, in memory of Lloyd Rigler, of $10,000
One George London/Leonie Rysanek Award of $10,000
One George London Award given to a Canadian singer, of $10,000
One George London/Kirsten Flagstad Award sponsored by the New York Community Trust, of $10,000, given to a potential Wagnerian singer
Six George London Encouragement Awards of $1,000

In addition, all of the finalists who do not win George London Awards or Encouragement Awards will be given a $500 Honorable Mention.

The competition's final round is a public event: each singer performs one selection, and the winners are then announced, all at The Morgan Library & Museum's Gilder Lehrman Hall on Friday, March 1, 2013, at 4:00 PM. After the finalists' performances, the audience is invited to a reception while the judges deliberate. Once the awards have been decided upon, the audience is invited back for the announcement of the winners.

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.

This year's panel of judges includes soprano Harolyn Blackwell, opera stage director Bruce Donnell, former Metropolitan Opera administrator Alfred F. Hubay, George London Foundation President Nora London, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, former Metropolitan Opera leading tenor and current voice professor George Shirley, and performing arts consultant Thurmond Smithgall. The competition pianist is Linda Hall.

The 2012 George London Award winners were baritone Brandon Cedel, contralto Suzanne Hendrix, mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa, soprano Chloé Moore, baritone Zachary Nelson, and soprano Corinne Winters.

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.