The International Opera Awards are presented by Opera Magazine, a periodical that has commented on the events of the opera houses of the world since the 1950s. The statuettes are presented to finalists in a number of categories, including conductors, directors, male and female singers, new productions and rediscovered operas. The Readers’ Award has become increasingly popular – the readers of Opera Magazine can select their favourite male and female opera singers online. This year the award was presented to the Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak and the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann.
In recent seasons Kurzak performed at La Scala (in Rossini’s Le comte Ory in the role of the Countess), in London’s Covent Garden (where she performed the role of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto), in the Teatro Real of Madrid (where she played Maria in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment) and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (where she performed the role of Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel). In June of 2015 Kurzak will debut twice: in a new role and in a new theatre. She will perform in Maria Stuarda, the tragic opera of Dionizetti, in the Parisian Théâtre des Champs Élysées.
Jonas Kaufmann is a tenor who works with German theatres, the Royal Opera the House, Metropolitan Opera and numerous other music theatres of Europe. He’s famous for his bel canto and roles in Richard Wagner’s operas, acclaimed in New York and on the Bayreuth festival. The album Du bist die Welt für mich with Kaufmann’s interpretations of Richard Tauber’s repertoire was published in 2014.
The winners of other categories at the International Opera Awards are Semyon Bychkov (the conductor of the year), Birmingham Opera Company for Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina directed by Graham Vick (best new production), Brian Jones (best director) and Bregenzer Festspiele (best festival).
The awards were presented on 26 April 2015 during a gala at the London Savoy theatre. The ceremony, conducted by Richard E. Grant, featured performances of the artists nominated for the “Opera Oscars”, including Aleksandra Kurzak and Justina Gringyte, a Lithuanian mezzosoprano, laureate of the Young Singer Award. Among the nominees for the Reader’s Award were also the two world famous Polish singers Piotr Beczała and Mariusz Kwiecień.
Transl. Agata Dudek, 27/04/15.