Awards,
International Opera Awards 2019 - The Winners!
The winners of this year's International Opera Awards were announced last night at a star-studded ceremony at Sadler's Wells Theatre in Clerkenwell. Founded in 2012 by British entrepreneur Harry Hyman in partnership with Opera Magazine, the Awards count Dame Janet Baker, Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni and Dame Felicity Lott among their patrons, with last night's ceremony including presentations from Dame Sarah Connolly, Sir Mark Elder and Lady Solti, and live performances from mezzo Vivica Genaux and tenors David Butt Philip and Charles Castronovo (who won Male Artist of the Year).
You can browse the complete list of nominees here, but here's our brief overview of the winners in the recordings categories, plus details of the Artists of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award.
Recording (complete opera)
Winner
Albina Shagimuratova (Semiramide), Daniela Barcellona (Arsace), Mirco Palazzi (Assur), Barry Banks (Idreno), Gianluca Buratto (Oroe), Susana Gaspar (Azema), David Butt Philip (Mitrane), James Platt (L’ombra di Nino)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment & Opera Rara Chorus, Sir Mark Elder
Available Formats: 4 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Nominated
Allan Clayton (Hamlet), Sarah Connolly (Gertrude), Barbara Hannigan (Ophelia), Rod Gilfry (Claudius), Kim Begley (Polonius), John Tomlinson (Ghost/Grave-Digger/Player-King), Jacques Imbrailo (Horatio)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus, Vladimir Jurowski
Available Format: DVD Video
Allan Clayton (Hamlet), Sarah Connolly (Gertrude), Barbara Hannigan (Ophelia), Rod Gilfry (Claudius), Kim Begley (Polonius), John Tomlinson (Ghost/Grave-Digger), Jacques Imbrailo (Horatio), David Butt Philip (Laertes)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Chorus, Vladimir Jurowski
Available Format: Blu-ray
Véronique Gens (Catharina Cornaro), Cyrille Dubois (Gérard de Coucy), Étienne Dupuis (Jacques de Lusignan)
Flemish Radio Choir & Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Hervé Niquet
Available Formats: 2 CDs + Book, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Furio Zanasi (Ulisse), Lucile Richardot (Penelope), Krystian Adam (Telemaco), Hana Blažíková (Minerva / Fortuna), Gianluca Buratto (Tempo / Nettuno / Antinoo)
Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Michael Volle (Hans Sachs), Klaus Florian Vogt (Walther von Stolzing), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Anne Schwanewilms (Eva), Daniel Behle (David), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Magdalene), Günther Groissböck (Pogner)
Bayreuth Festival, Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Recording (solo recital)
Winner
Stéphane Degout (baritone), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Nominated
Javier Camarena (tenor), Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo), Les Musiciens du Prince, Gianluca Capuano
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Max Emanuel Cencic (countertenor), Armonia Atenea, George Petrou
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée, Michael Schønwandt
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Anita Rachvelishvili (mezzo), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Giacomo Sagripanti
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Stuart Skelton (tenor), West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Female Singer of the Year
Asmik Grigorian
The Lithuanian lyric-dramatic soprano won Best Newcomer at the 2016 Awards, since which her engagements have included Marie to Matthias Goerne’s Wozzeck (released on Harmonia Mundi last year), Salome at the Salzburg Festival, and the title-role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in Frankfurt. She appears at the Edinburgh Festival this summer as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, and will sing her first Norma in Vienna shortly afterwards.
Nominated - Anna Caterina Antonacci, Daniela Barcellona, Sabine Devieilhe, Rosa Feola, Pretty Yende
Male Singer of the Year
Charles Castronovo
The American tenor began the year in one of his signature-roles, Alfredo Germont, at Covent Garden opposite Plácido Domingo and Ermonela Jaho, and his season so far has also included Ruggero in in Rolando Villazón’s staging of La rondine in Berlin and the title-role in Roberto Devereux in Munich. Recent recordings include the Verdi Requiem with Christian Thielemann on Profil Medien, and Paris-Madrid on Erato.
Nominated - Alex Esposito, Brandon Jovanovich, John Osborn, Xavier Sabata, Georg Zeppenfeld
Readers' Award
Sonya Yoncheva
The Bulgarian soprano began her career with William Christie’s Jardin des Voix, and though she’s made waves in far heavier repertoire such as Tosca and Norma in recent seasons, she was reunited with her mentor at last year’s Salzburg Festival as Monteverdi’s Poppea; other 2018/19 highlights have included the title-role in Iolanta and Desdemona in Otello at the Metropolitan Opera, and Cherubini’s Médée under Daniel Barenboim in Berlin.
Nominated - Ildar Abdrazakov, Sarah Connolly, Michael Fabiano, Vittorio Grigolo, Thomas Hampson, Barbara Hannigan
Conductor of the Year
Marc Albrecht
Currently Chief Conductor of Dutch National Opera, the German conductor counts Berg's Wozzeck (‘robust, sensitive, colourful, transparent, beautifully weighted and finely shared’ - Opera Magazine) and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier on Challenge Classics among his recent recordings; notable performances over the past year have included Enescu’s Oedipe and a staged production of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder in Amsterdam, and Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane in Berlin.
Nominated - Myung-whun Chung, Diego Fasolis, Michele Mariotti, Mark Wigglesworth, René Jacobs
Lifetime Achievement Award
Leontyne Price
Now 92 and more than two decades into her retirement, the great American soprano was unable to attend the ceremony in person but assured the audience that she ‘still hears their applause’ in a funny and touching acceptance video, in which she also described regularly visiting the Metropolitan Opera and thinking ‘I opened you!’ (Price created Samuel Barber’s Cleopatra in the inaugural performance at the new theatre in 1966).
You can browse Leontyne Price's complete available discography here.
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
