George Rasely

Who was George Rasely?

George Rasely was an American tenor who had an active career in operas, concerts, and musicals during the first half of the 20th century. He was also a frequent performer on American radio during the 1920s through the 1940s. He won the National Music League singing competition in 1927 and the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation vocal competition in 1928.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Rasely made his Broadway debut in 1917 as Nur-Al-Huda in Frederic Norton's Chu Chin Chow. He was a part of The Greenwich Village Follies between 1922-1924. He returned to Broadway again in 1939 to portray Mr. Scratch in The Devil and Daniel Webster. His other Broadway credits include La Vie Parisienne, Helen Goes to Troy, and Hollywood Pinafore. In 1928 he was committed to the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company where he notably portrayed the role of Schweiker von Gundelfingen in the United States premiere of Richard Strauss's Feuersnot on 2 December 1927 at Philadelphia's Metropolitan Opera House under the baton of Alexander Smallens.