The International Opera Awards 2017 Finalists Revealed

With more than 20,000 nominations made, the International Opera Awards has just announced the finalists for this year's Awards. These were selected by an international jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic with The Daily Telegraph, 'Once again, it was both a challenge and a pleasure for us to produce these shortlists, and I am very grateful to our distinguished jury. The quality of the nominations-received in record numbers this year-was very high, and I hope our lists prove that for all the difficulties faced by the world's opera companies, opera is in fact in a healthy and vibrant state.'

The 2017 International Opera Awards, hosted by BBC Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny, will take place on Sunday 7 May at 6.30pm at the London Coliseum. This is the first year that BBC Radio 3 is partnered with the International Opera Awards. As in previous years, the evening will feature live performances from internationally renowned singers. Past performances have been given by Lawrence Brownlee, Ermonela Jaho, Gregory Kunde and Aleksandra Kurzak. BBC Radio 3 will broadcast highlights from the awards ceremony in a special 90-minute programme on Sunday 21 May at 7.30pm.

The finalists below have been selected for their achievements over the 2016 calendar year. In addition to the 17 categories listed, the winners of the awards for Philanthropist, Lifetime Achievement, and Leadership (a new award sponsored by the Good Governance Institute) will be announced at a later date.

Founded by opera lover and philanthropist Harry Hyman, the International Opera Awards exists not only to celebrate established stars, but to support the next generation of talent. The Awards raises money for the Opera Awards Foundation, a charity which provides bursaries to aspiring operatic talent around the world.

http://www.operaawards.org/

Readers' Award voting page: http://www.operaawards.org/vote/

Tickets are priced at £30-£150 and are available here: https://londoncoliseum.org/.

Finalists

CHORUS

Arnold Schoenberg Chor

Lyric Opera of Chicago

MusicAeterna

Oper Stuttgart

Opera Australia

Opera North

CONDUCTOR

Riccardo Chailly

Philippe Jordan

Lothar Koenigs

Susanna Mälkki

Ingo Metzmacher

Esa-Pekka Salonen

DESIGNER

Cordelia Chisholm

Paolo Fantin

Alfons Flores

Klaus Grünberg

Johannes Leiacker

Christian Schmidt

DIRECTOR

Robert Carsen

Tatyana Gürbaca

Nigel Lowery

Christof Loy

Damiano Michieletto

Kirill Serebrennikov

EDUCATION & OUTREACH

Dutch National Opera

Glyndebourne

Komische Oper

Lyric Opera of Chicago

Natalya Sats Children's Opera Theatre

Umculo Cape Festival

FEMALE SINGER

Maria Bengtsson

Stéphanie d'Oustrac

Christiane Karg

Anna Netrebko

Anita Rachvelishvili

Daniela Sindram

FESTIVAL

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

Festival Verdi (Parma)

Garsington Opera

Lyon Festival

Spoleto Festival USA

Wexford Festival Opera

MALE SINGER

Lawrence Brownlee

Stéphane Degout

Eric Owens

Matthew Polenzani

Johan Reuter

Martin Winkler

NEW PRODUCTION

Glass: Akhnaten, d. Phelim McDermott (English National Opera)

Janá?ek: V?c Makropulos, d. Kornél Mundruczó (Opera Vlaanderen)

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, d. Harry Kupfer (Bayerische Staatsoper)

Shostakovich: The Nose, d. Barrie Kosky (Royal Opera House)

Saariaho: L'amour de loin, d. Robert Lepage (Metropolitan Opera)

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco, d. Saskia Boddekke & Peter Greenaway (Teatro Regio di Parma)

NEWCOMER

Polly Graham (Director)

Oksana Lyniv (Conductor)

Simon Stone (Director)

Lorenzo Viotti (Conductor)

Matthew Waldren (Conductor)

Lloyd Wood (Director)

OPERA COMPANY

Houston Grand Opera

Oper Stuttgart

Opéra de Lyon

Opera Vlaanderen

Royal Opera House

Teatro alla Scala

READERS' AWARD

Roberto Alagna

Cecilia Bartoli

Piotr Becza?a

Renée Fleming

Juan Diego Flórez

El?na Garan?a

Sondra Radvanovsky

Bryn Terfel

RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA)

Die Walküre (Naxos)

Pique Dame (BR Klassik)

Zazà (Opera Rara)

Einstein on the Beach (Opus Arte)

La forza del destino (Sony)

Lulu (Nonesuch)

RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL)

Lawrence Brownlee: Allegro io son (Delos)

Allan Clayton: Where'er You Walk (Signum Classics)

Marianne Crébassa: Oh, Boy! (Erato)

Sabine Devieilhe: The Weber Sisters (Erato)

Pumeza Matshikiza: Arias (Decca)

Pretty Yende: A Journey (Sony)

REDISCOVERED WORK

Casella: La donna serpente (Teatro Regio di Torino)

Cesti: Le nozze in sogno (Innsbrucken Festwochen der Alten Musik)

Donizetti: Olivo e Pasquale (Donizetti Opera Festival, Bergamo)

Giordano: La cena delle beffe (Teatro alla Scala)

Straus: Die Perlen der Cleopatra (Komische Oper)

?ele?ski: Goplana (Polish National Opera)

WORLD PREMIERE

Thomas Adès: The Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival)

Elena Langer: Figaro Gets a Divorce (Welsh National Opera)

Missy Mazzoli: Breaking the Waves (Opera Philadelphia)

Anno Schreier: Hamlet (Theater an der Wien)

Bright Sheng: Dream of the Red Chamber (San Francisco Opera)

Miroslav Srnka: South Pole (Bayerische Staatsoper)

YOUNG SINGER

Louise Alder

J'Nai Bridges

Björn Bürger

Lise Davidsen

Jennifer France

Julie Fuchs

Sam Furness

Levy Segkapane

David Shipley

Long Zhang

2017 Jury

John Allison (chair)
Editor, Opera; critic, Daily Telegraph

David Agler
Artistic Director, Wexford Festival Opera

Aviel Cahn
Intendant, Opera Vlaanderen

Hugh Canning
Chief music critic, Sunday Times; member of Opera's editorial board

Rupert Christiansen
Opera critic, Daily Telegraph; member of Opera's editorial board

James Clutton
Director of Opera,Opera Holland Park

Serge Dorny
General Director, Opéra de Lyon

Neil Fisher
Deputy Arts Editor, The Times

Francisco José Folch
Critic, El Mercurio

Anthony Freud
General Director, President & CEO, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Deborah Jones
Sydney correspondent, Opera; national dance critic, The Australian

Joanna C. Lee
Contributor, Opera; columnist Opera (China)

Njabulo Madlala
Baritone

Hein Mulders
Intendant, Philharmonie Essen, Aalto-Musiktheater & Essener Philharmoniker

Nicholas Payne
Director, Opera Europa

Gerhard Persché
Correspondent, Opera, Opernwelt & Fono Forum

Christina Scheppelmann
Artistic Director General, Gran Teatre del Liceu

Matthew Shilvock
General Director, San Francisco Opera

Ken Smith
Critic, The Financial Times; columnist, Opera (China); commentator, RTHK Radio 4

Victoria Stapells
Contributor, Opera & Opera Canada.

Birgitta Svenden
CEO & Artistic Director, Royal Swedish Opera

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