ABOUT
Distinguished American tenor Roderick George has performed a broad range of concert and operatic repertoire throughout the United States and abroad. Hailed for his beautifully resonant timbre, he made his New York Lincoln Center debut in Handel’s Messiah at David Geffen Hall. His concert and oratorio 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 the Nashville Symphony and at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis with VocalEssence. He has sung over sixty performances of Handel's 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, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Alabama Symphony, and Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène with New York Repertory Orchestra. 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. Equally at home on the operatic stage, he has performed a diversity of leading lyric tenor opera roles including Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, 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. George was recently heard at the Red Mountain Theatre’s Human Rights New Works Festival in the role of Peter Fagan in a workshop reading of Carla Lucero's Touch, an opera based on the life of Helen Keller, commissioned by Opera Birmingham. Upcoming engagements include the role of Alfredo in La Traviata with Opera Wilmington.
An accomplished song recitalist and champion of 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.
Dr. George is a highly regarded voice teacher with over two decades of collegiate instructional experience. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, he heads the voice program at the University of Montevallo. He holds graduate degrees in voice 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. Dr. George also serves on the artist faculty of the Bay View Music Festival in northern Michigan. (Updated 2/23)
"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