Roderick George

Tenor RODERICK GEORGE enjoys an active performance career, which includes his recent role and company debut with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh as Sportin' Life in the company's new production of Porgy and Bess and his role debut as Gérald in Lakmé in St. Louis with Union Avenue Opera, both during the 2008-09 season.  Among his other operatic roles are Rodolfo (La Bohème), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tamino in (Die Zauberflöte), Alfredo (La Traviata), Ferrando (Cosí fan tutte), Albert (Albert Herring), Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), Ralph Rackstraw (HMS Pinafore), Benedict (Beatrice and Benedict), Aaron (Different Fields), and David (I was looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the sky).  

 As a concert artist, the tenor performs regularly as a soloist in major concert and oratorio works, including Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor, Bach’s Magnificat, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He was most recently heard in Rossini's Stabat Mater and Gounod's Messe Solennelle with the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus and Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and the Southeastern Chamber Orchestra. In February 2008, he was a featured guest soloist with the Clayton Symphony Orchestra of Missouri in a concert of opera arias and duets. 

Specializing in art songs settings of poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes, he has presented recent solo recitals at Jacksonville State University, Tennessee State University, Fayetteville State University, and Samford University. He has also recorded and toured as a soloist with the American Spiritual Ensemble throughout the United States and Spain. He made his European solo debut in a series of orchestral concerts in Austria, including a benefit concert for Doctors without Borders and a gala concert celebrating the operettas of Austrian composer Robert Stolz. In competition, he was a Mid-South Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Southeastern Regional Finalist in the NATS Artist Awards, and a finalist in the Mobile Opera Competition, Florida Suncoast Opera Guild Competition, National Society of Arts and Letters Voice Competition, and the Orpheus National Voice Competition.

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Dr. George is currently an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Montevallo.  He received the Doctor of Music degree in voice performance from the Florida State University, and received advanced training in opera at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.  Additionally, he was a Resident Artist with Amarillo Opera and an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera. An active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, he participated in the NATS Internship Program held at Colorado State University in 2004, where he studied vocal pedagogy under the tutelage of Clifton Ware. Prior to joining the UM faculty in 2004, he was an Assistant Professor of Music at Stillman College.

Dr. George maintains a personal website at www.roderickgeorge.com