BIOGRAPHY

Distinguished American tenor Roderick George made his New York Lincoln Center debut as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah at David Geffen Hall with the National Chorale and he has appeared at Carnegie Hall as a featured soloist for the Gotham Sings Choral Showcase. 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 Adolphus Hailstork and H. Leslie Adams. His recent concert performances have included Mozart Requiem with the Northwest Florida Symphony, Carmina Burana with the Huntsville Symphony, Messiah with El Paso Choral Society and Bach Magnificat and Beethoven’s Ninth with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.  His 2019/20 engagements included a return to the Alabama Symphony for Messiah, Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes with Nashville Symphony, Messiah with the Shoals Symphony and Dett’s Chariot Jubilee at the Eighth National Convention of the National Collegiate Choral Organization in Baltimore as a guest artist with the Oakwood University Aeolians. 

As an international performing artist, George has been heard throughout Russia with the Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also made appearances at numerous international festivals and venues including Festival Internacional de Musica Sacra in Ecuador, La Folle Journée in France, Festival Internacional de la Porta Ferrada in Spain, Festival Internacional de Santander, the Cayman Arts Festival of the Grand Cayman Islands, Notre-Dame Cathedral and the American Cathedral in Paris, Lensoveta Palace of Culture in St. Petersburg, the Royal Dublin Society and Wexford Opera House in Ireland and the Spaso House of the United States Embassy in Moscow.  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, Benedict in Beatrice and Benedict, Camille de Rosillion in The Merry Widow and David in I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky.  Recent stage performances 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.

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An avid song recitalist specializing in art songs set to the texts of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes, he gave the world  premier performance of Adolphus Hailstork’s "Four Romantic Love Songs" on poems of Dunbar at the African American Art Song Alliance Conference.  He has recently presented his "Poetry in Song" themed programs highlighting the writings of Dunbar and Hughes at the University of Pikeville, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Susquehanna University, University of Montevallo and Shelton State Community College. More recently, the tenor performed Doug McDonnell’s song cycle, Langston’s Lot, composed for tenor voice, alto saxophone and piano for the artist series at Heidelberg University. He is also a noted interpreter of the art songs of Harry T. Burleigh. Additionally, he has recorded and toured extensively, including multiple concert tours throughout the U.S., Spain, France, Ireland and South America, as a featured soloist with the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble.

In addition to his active performance career, Dr. George is a highly regarded voice teacher with nearly two decades of collegiate instructional experience.  He currently serves as Professor of Music and Voice Area Coordinator in the Department of Music at the University of Montevallo (AL). He holds graduate degrees in vocal performance, opera, and musical theater from The Florida State University and Southern Illinois University in 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 one of twelve voice teachers selected nationally for the prestigious NATS Teacher-Internship Program held at Colorado State University, where he studied vocal pedagogy under the tutelage of tenor Clifton Ware.  He has studied voice with tenors Larry Gerber, Everett McCorvey, Alfonse Anderson and soprano Jeanine Wagner. In competition, he was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the NATS Artist Awards competition, and a finalist in the Orpheus National Competition, among others. He is also a member of the artist faculty at the Bay View Music Festival in Northern Michigan. (Updated 7/20)

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PHOTO: African American Art Song Alliance Conference, Irvine, California (above)

Photo by Nathaniel Thompson