Kirill Peterenko, Russian conductor and new music director of the Staatsoper, developed the music of the opera, choreography was planned by Claude Bardouil and the production designed by Małgorzata Szczęśniak.
The judges of the International Opera Awards also nominated the premiere of “Qudsji Zaher”, the long-awaited opera debut of Paweł Szymański, in the World Premiere category. This production was by the Polish Grand Theatre - National Opera. The libretto for the opera was written by Maciej Drygas, the director of films such as Hear My Cry (1991), State of Weightlessness (1994) and One Day in the PRL (2005).
Dobber and Beczała sing Verdi
Andrzej Dobber and Piotr Beczała (two Polish singers) were also nominated for awards - Dobber in the CD (Opera Recital) category for Arias, distributed by DUX, and Beczała in the Audience Award category via the poll located on the official website. In the repertoire of both artists, Verdi’s masterpieces have a special place.
Andrzej Dobber, even if he didn’t court popularity, is considered to be the best artist performing some of Verdi’s role, such as: Germont in La Traviata, Macbeth, Nebuchadnezzar of Nabucco or Rigoletto – wrote Stanisław Bukowski (reviewer) on Audio portal
The jury for the International Opera Awards includes, among others, John Allison (editor of Opera and a critic in The Sunday Telegraph), Hugh Canning (The Sunday Times associate), Sir Peter Jonas (artistic director of the Bavarian State Opera) and Fiona Maddocks (critic dedicated to classical music in The Observer). The award ceremony will be held on April 7th at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Source: Culture.pl, Operaawards.org, February 2014, translated: Katarzyna Maksimiuk, 19.02.2014