The American tenor Donald George was born in San Francisco and spent his childhood in New Orleans, studying at the Louisiana State University before moving to Europe for further training and a career in opera that Hagen and continued in the major European opera houses of Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona and elsewhere. He has appeared in the concert hall with orchestras that include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Israel Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and with conductors of the greatest distinction, including Bernstein, Mehta, Colin Davis, Sinopoli and Kurt Masur. His operatic rôles include those of Rodolfo and Tamino, as well as the title rôle in Bernstein’s Candide, under the direction of the composer.