ABOUT
Distinguished American tenor Roderick George made his New York Lincoln Center debut in Handel’s Messiah with the National Chorale. Regularly engaged as a soloist in major concert and oratorio works, his repertoire spans from Bach's Magnificat and Mozart’s Requiem, through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Rossini's Stabat Mater, to Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and contemporary works by composers such as Adolphus Hailstork, including recent performances of I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes with VocalEssence (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and the Nashville Symphony. He has sung over sixty performances of Messiah, including recent appearances with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and the El Paso Choral Society. Other recent engagements have included Mozart Requiem with Northwest Florida Symphony, Carmina Burana with Huntsville Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Alabama Symphony. He has also been heard throughout the country in performances of R. Nathaniel Dett’s The Chariot Jubilee, a work in which he is featured on the latest project of the Oakwood University Aeolians.
As an international performing artist, George has concertized throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, South America, Canada, and Russia. Highlights have included appearances throughout Russia with the Orpheus Radio Symphony and the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic. Equally at home on the operatic stage, he has performed a diversity of leading lyric tenor opera roles including Rodolfo in La Bohéme, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Alfredo in La Traviata, Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Gérald in Lakmé, the title role of Albert Herring, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Camille de Rosillion in The Merry Widow and David in I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky. Recent seasons have included his role debut as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Birmingham and the role of Leader in Union Avenue Opera's production of Lost in the Stars.
An accomplished song recitalist and champion of the American art song, George specializes in the songs of H.T. Burleigh and settings of texts by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes. He had the honor of singing the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s “Four Romantic Love Songs” on poems of Dunbar at the 2012 African American Art Song Alliance Conference. His professional choral affiliations have included recordings and multiple concert tours throughout the U.S. and abroad with the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble and more recently with the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers.
George is a highly regarded voice teacher with nearly two decades of collegiate instructional experience. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, he is on the faculty of the University of Montevallo, where he heads the voice program. He holds graduate degrees in vocal performance, opera, and musical theater, including the Doctor of Music degree, from The Florida State University and Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), with advanced training in Austria at the American Institute of Musical Studies. An active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, he was selected nationally for the prestigious NATS Teacher-Internship Program held at Colorado State University, where he studied vocal pedagogy under the tutelage of Clifton Ware. His primary voice teachers have included tenors Larry Gerber, Everett McCorvey, Alfonse Anderson and soprano Jeanine Wagner. (Updated 12/22)
"Tenor Roderick George sang commandingly as the Leader."
Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Operatic voices are relatively few, but those are realized as exquisite musical instruments by the likes of Roderick George as Leader, the narrator of sorts for this tragic tale who opens the show with a strong resonance that carries throughout."
Mark Bretz, Ladue News
"Roderick George shows a beautiful voice as the Leader of the chorus..."
Steven Callahan, Broadway World
"Tenor Roderick George was sympathetic as Gérald, the British officer who loves her. He has a big voice and high notes that won’t quit.”
Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch