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For the first time ever, the Oper! Awards 2024 took place outside of Germany and were more international than previous years. The awards ceremony was live streamed from Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The awards took place 29 January of this year and 20 winners walked away with Oper! Awards.
Featured above is Ermonela Jaho. Photo by Michel Schnater taken at the Oper! Awards.
The Oper! Awards are operated by an international jury of music journalists that decides the winners of the awards. Germany has the highest number of opera houses worldwide. The Oper! Awards first took place in 2019 and are Germany’s only international opera prize. Individuals that are invited to the awards are some of the best creatives in the international opera scene either on stage or off stage.
Featured above is Sophie de Lint accepting the award for Best Opera Company. Photo by Michel Schnater taken at the Oper! Awards.
The Best Opera Company Award went to Dutch National Opera, where the awards ceremony was held this year. Ermonela Jaho walked away with Best Female Singer and Michael Spyres won the mutual award of Best Male Singer. Nathalie Stutzmann, who is the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra won Best Conductor. Lydia Steier, an American Opera Director of course won the Best Director Award after being mentioned in the New York Times early last year for bringing fresh visions to Europe’s opera stages.
Featured above is Manuel Brug, a jury member for the Oper! Awards (Left) and Lydia Steier (Right). Photo by Michel Schnater taken at the Oper! Awards.
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, composed of 135 musicians, won Best Orchestra. Similarly The Monteverdi Choir, a UK based choir, won Best Choir at the Oper! Awards. Lili Elbe opened in October last year and won Best World Premiere. The Greek from the Salzburg Festival in August last year won Best Production, however Best Festival was won by Bayreuth Baroque. Ivan IV., from the Staatstheater Meiningen early last year, won Best Rediscovery. Paul Zoller, best known for his work on the opera Cavalleria/Bajazzo, won Best Stage Designer. Green Opera (La Monnaie / De Munt) was dubbed with the Best Future Project Award amidst many green initiatives in the arts industry this year. Klaus Bruns won Best Costume Designer. Best Solo Album went to Cyrille Dubois: So Romantique! but Best Opera Recording was won by La princesse de Trébizonde (Opera Rara).
Huw Montague Rendall walked away with the Award for Best Newcomer and Waltraud Meier won the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award after a longstanding 33 year career and 2,000 performances in Opera. The Best Benefactor this year was the Foundation of the Royal Opera of Versailles. This year, the long running joke of the award for The Biggest Nuisance was won by ‘The programmatic timidity of some opera houses’.
Featured above is Waltraud Meier accepting her Oper! Award for Honorary Lifetime Achievement. Photo by Michel Schnater taken at the Oper! Awards.
The jury for the 2024 Awards was composed of nine people including:
Manuel Brug who worked for Bayerischer Rundfunk and ARD as a music and dance critic for Süddeutsche Zeitung, editor of Opernwelt, Wochenpost und Tagesspiegel.
Dr. Eleonore Büning who is on the advisory board of the German Music Competition, and in 2018 became an honorary member of the German Music Council.
Uwe Friedrich who has been freelancing for Deutschlandfunk and other ARD radio stations on the music scene, with a special focus on opera. He writes for Der Tagesspiegel and a number of specialist magazines, and produces music features.
Dr. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser who has been presenting, since 2008, the weekly feature “Music City Berlin”. He has been a jury member of the annual and quarterly sessions of the German Record Critics’ Award since 2012.
Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke who earned a doctorate on opera reception. For many years he worked as an editor of the trade magazine das Orchester. In 2015, he launched Oper! and is currently the Chair of the Oper! Awards.
Stephan Schwarz-Peters who held a position as research assistant at the German Music Information Centre in Bonn and has been working as a freelancer.
Franziska Stürz who as a soprano has been onstage at notable opera houses and international music festivals. Since 2005 she has also worked as a music journalist with a focus on musical theatre.
Georg Kasch who was a member of the Federal Theatre Prize, the Berlin State Jury for Performing Arts and Dance, and has a focus on queerness in opera.
And Christian Wildhagen who since 2015 has been the executive music editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and belongs to the jury of the German Record Critics’ Awards.
Featured above is the winners of the Oper! Awards 2024. Photo by Michel Schnater taken at the Oper! Awards.
You can watch the full awards ceremony here.
Janine has always been a part of music and performing. The first show that inspired her to go into theatre was the Velveteen Rabbit which she saw as a child, and Drew works to keep that magic alive in her work. When Drew was accepted into an internship program for audio engineering at a recording studio, she jumped at the opportunity. That was at the start of 2020, and so much has happened since then, both in her career and in the world. Since then, Drew has taken several opportunities to work at recording studios, concerts, festivals, and even large theatres while spending some time on tour. Drew's favorite by far though, has been the chance to work on Broadways and West End shows, as this was a dream come true. Drew is honoured to get to share these experiences from being inside the entertainment industry.
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