For almost 30 years, University of Tennessee-Knoxville football fans have enjoyed the voice of George Bitzas as he sang the national anthem during home football games. Now Maryville College football fans will have the opportunity to hear Bitzas sing on Honaker Field, when he performs the national anthem before the Homecoming football game this month.
Bitzas, an accomplished tenor, is known to thousands of Tennesseans for his singing of the national anthem at each UTK home football game from 1973-2000.
“Several generations of East Tennesseans have grown up listening to George Bitzas sing the national anthem at UT football games,” said Stacey Wilner, coordinator of choral music at Maryville College. “Now fans of Maryville College will have the rare opportunity to hear him.”
The 2011 Maryville College Homecoming game will take place Oct. 22 at 2 p.m., when the Scots take on the Averett University Cougars.
Bitzas, professor emeritus of voice at the University of Tennessee, has been an adjunct professor of music at Maryville College for the last two years, where he teaches voice.
“We are pleased that Maryville College students have the opportunity to study voice with someone who has such legendary status as George,” Wilner said.
Bitzas has performed in concert in major cities in the United States, Canada and Europe and has sung with symphony orchestras throughout the Southeast. He has performed with the Knoxville Opera Company, portraying characters such as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Beppe in Pagliacci and Norman in Il Trovatore. He has also has performed with the Charlotte, Augusta, Whitewater, Spartanburg and Chattanooga opera companies.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.