George London (bass-baritone)

George London (* May 30, 1920 in Montréal, † March 24, 1985 in Armonk, New York; actually George Burnstein ) was an American opera singer in the bass baritone vocal range.

Biography

London grew up as the son of a Russian-born Jewish family in Los Angeles. He made his debut in 1942 in Hollywood as Dottore Grenvil in La Traviata, then continued his vocal studies in New York and had initially continued in the entertainment sector successes ( and Others with Mario Lanza ).

In 1949 he was discovered by Karl Böhm and brought to the Vienna State Opera. His first game there was the Amonasro in Aida and as a result he acquired the major roles of the dramatic ( bass ) Baritone tray. In 1951 he sang for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Another important stage in his career was the Glyndebourne Festival. He had his greatest successes 1951-1964 in Bayreuth, where he played the big Wagnerian roles, especially the Dutch, Amfortas and Wotan. More brilliant games were Boris Godunov, Don Giovanni, Scarpia ( Tosca ).

Its worldwide fame led him to all the major opera houses in Europe and the U.S. until he due to a vocal cord paralysis ended his career in the 1960s. From 1968 to 1971 he was director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, from 1971 to 1976 director of the National Opera Institute and the Washington, DC Opera ( 1975-1979 ).

George London was also a sought-after voice teacher. In 1977, he suffered a heart attack in this activity with subsequent brain involvement, as a result of which he was a life-long, one-sided paralysis. After this first infarction, his health deteriorated considerably. A few years later survived a second London, but died on March 24, 1985 in Armonk, New York the consequences of a third heart attack.

George London was a rather static performer, but grabbed his charisma just with economical gestures. He had an extraordinary, not only beautiful, but also distinctively personal voice colored with great understanding of the text. His phenomenal stage presence endowed his characters with charisma, demonic and suggestive power. Consequently, he had his greatest successes in profound scale figures. So his Don Giovanni was not a decadent libertine, but a seductive demon, and his Boris Godunov no power-mad usurper, but a from the brink of madness in its existence threatened, deeply lonely person. This of course applies a fortiori to its Dutch and his Amfortas ( Parsifal ), which are among his most significant games.