Distinguished American tenor Roderick George made his New York Lincoln Center debut in Handel’s Messiah at David Geffen Hall 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 Adolphus Hailstork. He has sung over sixty performances of Messiah, including recent appearances with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Shoals Symphony, and the El Paso Choral Society. Other recent engagements have included Mozart Requiem with Northwest Florida Symphony, Carmina Burana with Huntsville Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Alabama Symphony, and Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes with Nashville Symphony. This season has included his debut with VocalEssence of Minneapolis, Minnesota in Nathaniel Dett's The Chariot Jubilee and Hailstork's I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes.

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An accomplished song recitalist specializing in art songs set to texts of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes, George was invited to sing the world premiere performance of Adolphus Hailstork’s "Four Romantic Love Songs" on poems of Dunbar at the 2012 African American Art Song Alliance Conference. His "Poetry in Song" themed programs highlighting the writings of Dunbar and Hughes have been enthusiastically received at several colleges and universities, and he has more recently included Doug McDonnell’s song cycle, Langston’s Lot, composed for tenor voice, alto saxophone and piano. He is also a noted interpreter of the art songs of Harry T. Burleigh. His professional choral endeavors have included multiple concert tours throughout the U.S. and abroad with the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble and he is a member of the newly formed Jason Max Ferdinand Singers who premiered in the 2021 VOCES8 Foundation "Live from London" Festival Series. He is featured on recordings with the American Spiritual Ensemble and on the 2020 self-titled Aeolians of Oakwood University project as the tenor soloist in Nathaniel Dett's cantata, The Chariot Jubilee.

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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 vocal 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. 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 has also served on the artist faculty of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada). (Updated 3/22)

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