The International Opera Awards are considered the most prestigious awards in the opera industry. The shortlisted nominees come from over 26 countries. Artists, productions and companies from across Europe and North America are joined by those from Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Korea, Mexico and South Africa. BBC Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny will again host the Awards.
The Award categories cover the entire scope of opera - from singers, conductors, directors and designers to productions, festivals, recordings and sustainability. The shortlist was compiled by an international jury of opera critics, administrators and performers and chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine (the Founding Media Partner of the Awards) and classical music critic of The Daily Telegraph.
The shortlist includes four nominees from Poland: Tomasz Konieczny (Male Singer), Boris Kudlička (Designer), Andrzej Filończyk (Young Singer), and Piotr Beczała, who is in the running for the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award along with Nicholas Brownlee, Freddie De Tommaso, Michael Fabiano, Sally Matthews, Lisette Oropesa, Sandra Radvanovsky, and Nadine Sierra. Unlike in the other categories, the winner will be decided by the public. Voting is open until 16 October, and votes can be cast on the International Opera Awards website, operaawards.org. The Poznań Opera House’s production of Stanisław Moniuszko’s Jawnuta is shortlisted for the Rediscovered Work award.
Get your tickets for the Awards on 9 November
The gala’s star-studded line-up includes Alejandro Del Ángel (tenor), Gabriela Legun (soprano), Łukasz Goliński (bass-baritone), and Juliana Grigoryan (soprano, Grand Prix winner of the 2022 Moniuszko Competition). In a nod to Ukraine, the event will also feature a performance by talented young baritone Nazar Mukulyak. Andriy Yurkevych conducts the soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish National Opera.
The prestigious Awards are given in approximately 19 categories each year to recognise the best individual artists, companies, institutions and events of the past opera season and to raise funds for aspiring talents. The Awards, founded by philanthropist Harry Hyman in 2012, aim to raise the profile of opera as an art form, to recognise and reward success in opera and to generate funds to provide bursaries for aspiring operatic talent from around the world. Since 2012 over £500,000 has been raised by the Opera Awards Foundation, going to more than 125 bursary recipients.
The International Opera Awards 2023 categories: Conductor , Designer , Director, Equal Opportunities & Impact , Female Singer, Festival , Leadership , Lifetime Achievement, Male Singer , New Production , Opera Company , Philanthropy, Readers’ Award (presented by Opera Magazine) , Recording (Complete Opera) , Recording (Solo Recital) , Rediscovered Work , Young Singer , Sustainability , World Premiere
International Opera Awards 2023 - Full Shortlist
CONDUCTOR
Susanna Mälkki; Marc Minkowski; Antonio Pappano; François-Xavier Roth; Nathalie Stutzmann; Keri-Lynn Wilson
DESIGNER
Lizzie Clachan; Charles Edwards; Christof Hetzer; Boris Kudlička; Christian Schmidt; Katrin Lea Tag
DIRECTOR
Vasily Barkhatov; Lotte de Beer; Tatjana Gürbaca; Andreas Homoki; Barrie Kosky; Keith Warner
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & IMPACT
Asian Opera Alliance; La Monnaie De Munt; National Opera Studio; Opera for Peace; Tapestry Opera; The Atlanta Opera
FEMALE SINGER
Aigul Akhmetshina; Eleonora Buratto; Elīna Garanča; Ermonela Jaho; Golda Schultz; Corinne Winters
FESTIVAL
Bayreuth Baroque; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; O. Festival, Rotterdam; Grange Festival; Handel Festival, Halle; O23 (Opera Philadelphia)
MALE SINGER
Mika Kares; Tomasz Konieczny; Luca Salsi; Ryan Speedo Green; Michael Spyres; Michael Volle
NEW PRODUCTION
War & Peace (Bayerische Staatsoper/Tcherniakov); Les contes d’Hoffmann (Opera Australia/Michieletto); Nixon in China (Opera national de Paris/Carrasco); Wozzeck (ROH/Warner); The Greek Passion (Salzburg Festival/Stone); Orfeo (Santa Fe Opera/Sharon); Il trittico (Scottish Opera/McVicar); Il turco in Italia (Teatro Real/Pelly)
OPERA COMPANY
Bayerische Staatsoper; Grand Théâtre de Genève; Opera Comique; San Francisco Opera; Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Volksoper Wien
OPERA READERS’ AWARD
Piotr Beczała; Nicholas Brownlee; Freddie De Tommaso; Michael Fabiano; Sally Matthews; Lisette Oropesa; Sondra Radvanovsky; Nadine Sierra
RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA)
Dessau: Lanzelot (Audite); Franck: Hulda (Bru Zane); Lully: Psyché (Chateau de Versailles Spectacles); Mercadante: Il proscritto (Opera Rara); Puccini: Turandot (Warner Classics); Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve (Naxos)
RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL)
Cyrille Dubois: So Romantique! (Alpha); Javier Camarena: Signor Gaetano (Pentatone); Jodie Devos: Bijoux perdus (Alpha); Lisette Oropesa: French Bel Canto Arias (Pentatone); Marina Viotti: A Tribute to Pauline Viardot (Aparte); Sonya Yoncheva: The Courtesan (SY11 Productions)
REDISCOVERED WORK
Salieri: La fiera di Venezia (Bampton Classical Opera); Raff: Samson (Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar); Massenet: Le Roi de Lahore (Dorset Opera); Moniuszko: Jawnuta (Poznań Opera House); Corselli: Achille in Sciro (Teatro Real); Weingartner: Orestes (Theater Erfurt); Tournemire: La légende de Tristan (Theater Ulm)
SUSTAINABILITY
17h25 Collective; Dutch National Opera; English National Opera; Theatre Green Book; Glyndebourne; La Monnaie De Munt
WORLD PREMIERE
Alexander Raskatov: Animal Farm (Dutch National Opera); George Benjamin: Picture a Day Like This (Festival d’Aix en Provence); Raquel Garcia-Tomas: Alexina B. (Gran Teatre del Liceu); Soren Nils Eichberg: Oryx and Crake (Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden); Yevhen Stankovych: Terrible Revenge (Lviv Opera); Kevin Puts: The Hours (Metropolitan Opera); Gabriela Lena Frank: El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (San Diego Opera); Sheila Silver: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera); David Hackbridge-Johnson: Blaze of Glory! (Welsh National Opera)
YOUNG SINGER
Sara Blanch; Andrzej Filończyk; Adriana González; Laurence Kilsby; Young Woo Kim; Gabriele Kupšytė; Josh Lovell; Blaise Malaba; Marigona Qerkezi; Beth Taylor
