| Donald George - Lyric Tenor | ||
| Introduction
Short Biography NEW
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Donald George is pleased to announce that he has been named as Professor of Voice at the prestigious Crane School of Music, State University of New York, he will be dividing his time between professional engagements and his new teaching obligations. Donald George's concert repertoire is many faceted and includes well known and less well known compositions such as Mozart's Requiem with Sir. Y. Menuhin at the Mozartfest in Bath, England. Weil's Seven Deadly Sins with C. von Dohnanyi at the Salzburg Festival, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Beethoven's "Missa Solennis" with K. Masur and the Israel Philharmonic, Mendelssohn's "St Paul" with E. Tchakarov and Radio France, Tippet's "Child of Our Time" with R. Koch and the North German Radio, Jeffrey Tate in "Wozzeck" and "Peter Grimes" and not least Bernstein's" Candide" with Bernstein conducting the London Philharmonic. Donald George was a regular guest at the famous Komische Oper in Berlin where he sang the leading tenor parts in "Don Giovanni", "Abduction from the Seraglio", "Czar Saltan", "La Boheme" and "Love for Three Oranges".
Benoit, Peter HOOGMIS (HIGH MASS) Donald George is not only one of the few tenors to have sung in all three of the Berlin opera houses (Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper) but he has also sung in other leading opera houses of the world such as the Liceu in Barcelona, the Chatelet and Bastille in Paris, the State Opera in Hamburg, the Volksoper and State Opera in Vienna, the Opera of Turin, and Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Colon in Buenos Aires, the City Opera in Cologne (singing "Magic Flute" and "Abduction" in the Michael Hampe Mozart cycle among other pieces), the National Opera in Madrid, the Capitole in Toulouse, the Opera in Montpellier and Toulon, the Monnaie in Brussels, the Flemish Opera in Antwerp, the Opera Royal in Liege, Belgium, the Municipal in Lausanne in Switzerland, San Cailo of Naples, La Fenice of Venice, Teatro Massimo of Palermo and La Scala of Milano. Donald George had also sung in a number of internationally renowned festivals such as the Flanders Festival in the 20th Century piece by the Belgian composer Andre Laporte "La Morte Chitarre" for solo tenor and orchestra which was broadcast, the Salzburg Festival and the Blossem Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra and von Donhnanyi and the London Proms with the Mecklenburgh Opera, or the Bregence Festival. In the Festival of European Song in Wilhelmshafen he sang a critically acclaimed recital based on the texts of Heinrich Heine to the music of Schubert, Schumann, Franz, and the Mendelsohns, Fanny and Felix. At the Jerusalem Festival 3000 Donald George sang the world premiere of Noam Sheriff's "Psalms of Jerusalem" which was also broadcast. In the Perth Festival 1997 (Australia) he sang Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with the Solisti di Praga, with the Taorrmina Arte Festival (Sicily) with G. Sinopoli he sang Narraboth in Salome.
Donald George was invited to sing Mendelssohn's "Elijah" for Spanish television and radio in a concert conducted by Sir Y. Menuhin in the presence of the Queen. He has also sung in other broadcast performances such as Beethoven "Ninth Symphony" with Fruebeck de Burgos conducting, or Mercandante's "Seven Last Words" with the Berlin Festival, or "Don Giovanni" with the Lausanne Opera in Meziere, or Rossini's "Cenerentola" for TV 5 of France which was broadcast throughout Europe. Beethoven SYMPHONY 9 Donald George has an extensive CD recording list, the latest being a critically acclaimed recording of the rare Rossini opera " Aureliano in Palmira" in which he sings the title role with the Solisti di Praga, or the Verdi "Requiem" with the Slovak Radio Philharmonic conducted by A. Rahbari, "La Finta Giardinera" with the Festival Radio France, Mendelssohn's "Elias" with Masur and the Israel Philharmonic, or Schubert's song cycle "Schoene Muellerin" with Jan Vermeulen playing the Hammerfluegel. A new CD of another rarity has appeared: Rossini's cantata "Le Nozze di Teti e di Pelleo".
Rossini AURELIANO IN PALMIRA Donald George sang the premiere of "Love for Three Oranges" in the A. Homoki production for the Komische Oper Berlin in which his performance was described as "wonderful", "touching", "impressive" or the "artistically most successful in the Berlin Opera Houses". Donald George also sang Max in the "Freischuetz" at Chiemgau Music Festival. He performed "Cosi" in the Naples opera singing with Frittoli, Corbelli, De Carolis. Concert performances of Bersteins "Candide" followed (in the concert version, which Donald George has already performed with Bernstein conducting) in Munich's Prinzregenten Theater and Frankfurt's Alte Oper. This concert series will also be recorded for broadcast and CD. Donald George made his debut at the Paris Opera Bastille in the role of Andres in "Wozzek" and the La Scala Milano in the role of Bob Boles in "Peter Grimes". Verdi REQUIEM In 2003-2005 Donald George sang numerous new roles including Hoffmann in “Tales of Hoffmann,” Florestan in Beethoven's first opera version of "Leonore," the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's “Rigoletto” and Tom Rakewell in “The Rake's Progress." In 2005-2006 Donald George sang once again in Palermo’s famous Teatro Massimo, this time performing the leading role of the shepherd/god in the seldom performed opera of Karol Szymanowski's "King Roger," in the production created for Palermo by Yannis Kokkos and conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig. He also sang the Evangelist in the famous Bavarian Cloister Andechs in the Christmas Oratorio and the Magnificat of J.S.Bach during the holiday season. Another highlight of the past season was his making his debut with the New Israeli Opera in Tel-Aviv. He sang the role of Tamino in Mozart’s “Magic Flute” in the production of William Kenntridge, which was a revival of the production from the La Monnaie, Opera Royal of Brussels. The conductor was Dan Ettinger. He also sang in Turin's acclaimed production of Billy Budd, which was directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Christopher Franklin. In Europe he sang the title role of “Candide” in the famous production narrated by the German personality Vicco von Bülow in his persona as “Loriot” at the State Theater in Munich conducted by David Stahl. Further engagements included the Lloyd-Weber “Requiem” with the Wuppertal Sinfonie Orchester and the tenor solo in Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” under Maestro Leonid Grin with the State Orchestra of Saarbruecken, which he wil sing again November 2 & 3 with the Roanoke Symphony. This year 2008 will see Donald singing and giving Masterclasses at the Bach Fest in Munich-Plannegg, the TOPOpera Fest in Austria, the International Performing Arts institute by Munich, the Asolos Song Festival (Italy). Donald has also been named as a Guest Professor by the renowned Shenyang Conservatory of Music (China). In addition Donald will be singing his successful Liederabend "The Old Wicked Songs" of Heinrich Heine at Potsdam, the Univeristy of South Carolina, Macon College, the opening of the West Virginia Music teachers Conference, the Mozartfest Wuerzburg (Germany) etc. . |
