George is the Producing Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera, (called “the city’s alt-opera company” by the Chicago Tribune), where he most recently created ‘Op*erratic’, a Mozartian opera improvised in real time based on audience suggestions.  Other directing credits for Fringe include ‘The Rosina Project’, the company’s popular hip-hop adaptation of ‘The Barber of Seville’.

In addition, George has directed new productions and scenes with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival, Chicago Folks Operetta, Wolf Trap Opera, and Chautauqua Opera.

Digital opera shorts include ‘Telekinetik’ for Catapult Opera, later screened at the 2025 Prototype Festival, and called “a place where David Lynch would have felt right at home” by the New York Times.

An inspiring mentor, George is the Theatre Department Chair and Artistic Director of Opera at North Park University.  He teaches at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music,  where he was a Fellow of the Searle Center for Advanced Teaching and Learning.  He has also taught at DePaul University and Roosevelt University/CCPA.

Now in its eleventh season, George is the executive producer of ‘Opera Box Score’, America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera, heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago.

George is the recipient of a National Opera Association award, a Best Music Video Award at the Aladerri International Film Festival, two American Prizes in Directing, Opera America’s Director-Designer competition award, and the German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

George’s training includes residencies with Pittsburgh Opera, the Merola Opera Program, the Staatstheater Darmstadt, and Wolf Trap Opera, and four improvisation intensives at the Annoyance Theatre.  He holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern and a BA in Theatre Studies and English from Yale.  George is a member of Steep Theatre Company, and the American Guild of Musical Artists, and is a dual US-UK citizen.

George lives in Chicago with his wife, their two children, their cat, and their five chickens.

He uses a number of social media platforms, and that number is zero.