Active Years: 1920-1985

Position: Bass-baritone, Arts Administrator, Producer.

Career Highlights: Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Gounod’s Mephistopheles, Escamillo, villians in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, the Dutchman, Scarpia, Mandryka, Boris Godunov.

Career Totals: 1941 debut in La Traviata at Hollywood Bowl; 1949 began international career as Amonasro in Vienna; first non-Russian to sing Boris at the Bolshoi in 1960; 1962-64 Wotan in Ring Cycle in Cologne; 1975-80 Administrator of Washington Opera; 1968-71 Administrator of the Los Angeles Opera Association and Washington’s Kennedy Center; 1975 staged the first English-language Ring Cycle in Seattle.

Scouting Report: Canadian-born American bass-baritone George London was known for a rare dramatic individuality and a magnificent dark voice of power. He become one of the finest operatic artists of the postwar era.

Teammates and Contemporaries: A member of the Bel Canto Trio’ with Mario Lanza and Frances Yeend.

Fun Statistic: The George London Foundation for Singers was established in 1971 to assist outstanding young American and Canadian singers during the difficult and critical early years of their career. Institute award winners have included Dawn Upshaw, Kathleen Battle, Renee Fleming, Jerry Hadley, and James Morris.