Donald George
 |
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (June 2009) |
 | Template:Wikify is deprecated. Please use a more specific cleanup template as listed in the documentation. |
Donald George is an American operatic tenor. He is currently an Associate Professor of Voice at State University of New York, Potsdam's Crane School of Music.[1] His career spans the major opera houses and concert halls of Europe and he is known for a beautiful lyric tenor voice, musical sensitivity, intelligence and exceptional acting abilities.
Biography
George was born in Pittsburg, California near San Francisco, and he grew up in Franklinton, Louisiana on the North Shore of New Orleans. With voice scholarships, he studied at Southeastern Louisiana University and then attended Louisiana State University for his Master’s degree, where he studied with Metropolitan Opera tenor Paul Knowles. In Europe, he also studied with Margarethe von Winterfeldt the teacher of the famous German tenor Fritz Wunderlich. In addition he worked with Kammersänger Josef Metternich and also with the American John Lester.
Donald George made his debut in Munich at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz as Belmonte in Mozart’s Entführung and at the Komische Oper Berlin as Tamino in Mozart’s Magic Flute in the production of the stage director Harry Kupfer, as Candide at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Oper Unter den Linden Berlin. He went on to sing at most of the well-known houses of Italy (La Scala di Milano, San Carlo di Napoli, Tatro Regio di Torino, etc), France (Théatre de la Bastille, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, etc), Netherlands (Nederlandse Opera, Opera Enschede, De Nationale Reisopera, Maastricht, Opera Zuid. etc), Austria (Salzburg Festival, Bregenz Festival, Wiener Staatsoper, Volksoper, Theater an der Wien etc), Spain (Teatro Real, Auditorio Nacional de Música, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona etc), Israel ( New Israel Opera), and Brazil (Teatro Colón). In addition Donald George has sung with many of the famous orchestras and conductors of the world including theBerlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, L’Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai Italy, Radio France, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, Czech Philharmonic or London Symphony Orchestra with Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Jurowski, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Colin Davis, Lord Yehudi Menuhin and others.
Throughout his career, Donald George has been known for his Mozart roles, and such roles as Candide, the Prince in Love For Three Oranges, Rudolfo in La Boheme and the Duke in Rigoletto as well as soloist in Bach’s Passions and Cantatas with Helmuth Rilling, and in Elijah, St. Paul and Carmina Burana. Metropolitan Opera News described his "pleasing tenor sound, inflected with an admirable musical sensitivity"[2] and Der Tagesspiegel said of his Love For Three Oranges: "…a wonderfully funny and sad prince" "Donald George suffers equally heartbreaking as the melancholy prince as he does as the prince in love...an ideal casting." "…he delighted the audience".[3] In Candide, the Münchner Mercur said "Donald George was brilliant as Candide. - His Lament is one of the highlights of the performance"[4]and Opera International, said in a review of the premier recording of Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira "Donald George qui confère à Aureliano une autorité..., et une virtuosité".[5]
Since entering the academic world, Donald George has formed with Lucy Mauro the ensemble DuoDrama and performed, given master classes and workshops, and published extensively. George and Mauro have performed concerts and given master classes in Italy, Austria, Germany and throughout the US. They have also been invited to present lectures and recitals for various conferences and institutions such as the Music Teachers National Conferences in Denver in 2008 and in Atlanta 2009, at the Opening of the West Virginia Music Teachers Conference where they shared the opening with Leon Fleisher and the College Music Society’s Regional Conference in Kansas City and the National Conference in Portland, Oregon. Articles written by George and Mauro include those appearing in American Music Teacher (on the nineteenth-century German Melodram), for Die Tonkunst (“The Historical Melodram”) and a review of the book Practicing: A Musicians Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz for American Music Teacher.
Donald George’s honors include being made a Colonel by Governor Buddy Roemer in 1990 for his service to Louisiana. He is an honorary citizen of Varna, Bulgaria and Bath, England and was appointed as an Honoured Professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in Shenyang, China in 2006. He was also inducted into the Southeastern Louisiana University Hall of Fame in 2001 and received the key to his hometown in 2000.
Donald George and his wife Evelyn have two daughters. His daughter Meghann Marie is also a singer and a composer. He resides in Germany on Lake Starnberg outside of Munich and in the US.
Recordings
Beethoven SYMPHONY 9 BRTN Philharmonic Orchestra Brussels Cantores Oratorio Choir Bruges Gauci, Van Deyck, George Rosca Alexander Rahbari, conductor Discover International DICD 920151
Benoit, Peter HOOGMIS (HIGH MASS) BRTN Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir Brussels Koniklijke Chorale Caecilia - Dubois Donald George, tenor Alexander Rahbari, conductor Discover International CICD 920178
Laporte, André Das Schloß George, Waag, Rosca, Lootens, Rawlins BRTN Philarmonic Orchestra Brussels Alexander Rahbari, conductor Koch Discover International DICD 920375-6
Mach, Konstantin MARIA HIMMELFAHRT, Op. 21 Baumann, Kessler, George, Hillebrand Chor und Orchester des Philharmonischen Orchesters Regensburg Eberhard Kraus, conductor Co-Production Bavarian Radio and Calig-Verlag Munich
Mendelssohn, ELIAS Israel Philharmonic Orchestra MDR Choir Leipzig Miles, Donath, van Ness, George Kurt Masur, conductor Teldec Classics International 9031-73131-2
Mozart LA FINITA GIARDINIERA George, Moser, McCarthy, Piland Festival Radio France Montpellier Friedemann Leyer, conductor
Orff CARMINA BURANA George, Mohr, Korondi MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig Daniel Nazareth, conductor (also in video)
Puccini MANON LESCAUT BRT Philharmonic Orchestra Brussels Gauci, Kaludov, Sardiniero, Rosca, George Alexander Rahbari, conductor Naxos 8-660019
Rossini AURELIANO IN PALMIRA George, Manzotti, Korovine, Canis I Virtuosi di Praga Francesco Corti, conductor Bongiovanni Records Bologna
Rossini LE NOZZE DI TETI E DI PELEO (first recording) George, Korovina, Lopera, Malta, Schaefer Czech Chamber Choir Virtuosi di Praga Marc Andrea, conductor Hänssler Classic Collector CD-No. 91.111
Saint-Saëns SAMSON & DALILA Munich Radio Orchestra Baltsa, Carreras, Malmberg, George Sir Colin Davis, conductor Phillips Classics
Schubert DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN Donald George, tenor Jan Vermeulen, pianoforte (Hamerflügel) Phaedra Classics 292 002
Strauss SALOME Berliner Philharmoniker Marton, Zednik, Weikl, Fassbaender, Lewis O'Neal, Maus, Geoerge, Beyer, von Halem Zubin Mehta, conductor Sony Classics s2K 46717
Verdi ALZIRA Munich Radio Orchestra Rotering, Bruson, Cotrubas, Araiza Bonilla, George, Lis Lamberto Gardelli, conductor Orfeo S 057832 H
Verdi REQUIEM Slovak Radio New Philharmonic Orchestra Slovak Philharonic Choir Gauci, Alperyn, George, Mikulas Alexander Rahbari, conductor Discover International DICD 920105-6
Weill, Kurt SEVEN DEADLY SINS Cleveland Orchestra Silja, George, Vogel, Gottschick, Kapellmann Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor Cleveland Orchestra 75th Anniversary CD Edition