George Jellinek (December 22, 1919 – January 16, 2010) was the Hungarian-born host of ''The Vocal Scene'', a weekly syndicated radio feature produced by WQXR radio of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Over three decades, from 1969 to 2004, he steadily interviewed opera singers and other figures of classical music on his show, and presented comparative recordings of arias and excerpts with commentary which the

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deemed "encyclopedic". Jellinek served in the United States Army and trained in Military Intelligence at

Camp Ritchie Fort Ritchie at Cascade, Maryland was a military installation southwest of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania and southeast of Waynesboro in the area of South Mountain. Following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, it closed in 19 ...

in the mountains of Maryland, thus making him one of the

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. Born in

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

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, Jellinek was a longtime resident of the New York City area. He was also familiar to radio audiences for his appearances during intermissions on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Jellinek retired from ''The Vocal Scene'' with the broadcast of December 23, 2004. On May 31, 2006, at a ceremony held at the Hungarian Consulate in New York City, he was decorated by the Hungarian Government for his lifetime contributions to the arts. Repeats of his program can still be heard on several stations, among them WQXR in New York City,

WFMT WFMT is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, Chicago ...

in Chicago, and on XM Satellite Radio's VOX channel. Radio station WQXR announced his death in an on-air tribute on January 18, 2010.Announcement of Jellinek's death on WQXR website
/ref> Among his bibliography is ''Callas: Portrait of a Prima Donna'' (1960).

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* ttps://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?041129fa_fact3 ''New Yorker'' article Nov 29, 2004br>Interview in the ''New York Times'' May 27, 2007
January 7, 1988 & September 17, 1995 1919 births 2010 deaths Ritchie Boys Classical music radio presenters American radio personalities Place of death missing Grammy Award winners Classical music critics People from Újpest Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{US-radio-bio-stub