Monday, 10 February 2020

International Opera Awards 2020

The chorus of Welsh National Opera in Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes - (Photo Johan Person)
The chorus of Welsh National Opera in Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes - (Photo Johan Person)
The 2020 International Opera Awards will be announced at a gala at Sadler's Wells on Monday 4 May 2020. This year's shortlist, as ever, rather frustratingly lists nominees without saying what why they have been nominated, but nonetheless there are some interesting and heartening listings.


The finalists in the Chorus award include Opera Vlaanderen (whom we saw in Verdi's Don Carlos in September 2019) and Welsh National Opera (whom we have just seen in Verdi's Les vepres Siciliennes). In the Education and Outreach Category finalists include Birmingham Opera Company, Blackheath Halls Community Opera and Opera North, a terrific achievement for each of them. The Newcomer Category includes conductor Finnegan Downie Dear, the music director of Shadwell Opera whose international career is really taking off.

The New Production category includes Barrie Kosky's production of Handel's Agrippina which was at Covent Garden this season and Tobias Kratzer's production of Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival (see Tony's review). The Opera Company category includes La Monnaie (where we saw Ponchielli's La Gioconda in 2019) and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

The complete recording category includes Christophe Rousset's rediscovery of the earlier versions of Gounod's Faust for Palazzetto Bru Zane (see my review), and the solo disc recital includes Benjamin Bernheim's recent solo disc.

The Rediscovered work includes Bampton Classical Opera's performances of Stephen Storace's Gli sposi malcontenti - Bride and Gloom (see my review). World premiere category listings include Stuart MacRae's Anthropocene (Scottish Opera) and Philip Venables's Denis & Katya (Opera Philadelphia).

Full listings from the International Opera Awards website.

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