The International Opera Awards has announced the shortlist for this year’s Awards, which will be held at Teatr Wielki, Polish National Opera, Warsaw on Thursday 9 November. The International Opera Awards celebrate operatic talent from around the world, as well as raising funds and awareness for the Opera Awards Foundation which supports aspiring operatic artists.

The Award categories cover the entire scope of opera - from singers, conductors, directors and designers to productions, festivals, recordings and sustainability The shortlist was compiled by an international jury of opera critics, administrators and performers and chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine (the Founding Media Partner of the Awards) and classical music critic of The Daily Telegraph.

Voting is also open for the Opera Magazine Readers’ Award, the only award to be decided by the public. This year’s nominees are Piotr Beczała, Nicholas Brownlee, Freddie De Tommaso, Michael Fabiano, Sally Matthews, Lisette Oropesa, Sondra Radvanovsky and Nadine Sierra. Voting is open until 16 October, and votes can be cast on the International Opera Awards website.

International Opera Awards 2023 – Full Shortlist

CONDUCTOR

Susanna Mälkki; Marc Minkowski; Antonio Pappano; François-Xavier Roth; Nathalie Stutzmann; Keri-Lynn Wilson

DESIGNER

Lizzie Clachan; Charles Edwards; Christof Hetzer; Boris Kudlička; Christian Schmidt; Katrin Lea Tag

DIRECTOR

Vasily Barkhatov; Lotte de Beer; Tatjana Gürbaca; Andreas Homoki; Barrie Kosky; Keith Warner

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & IMPACT

Asian Opera Alliance; La Monnaie De Munt; National Opera Studio; Opera for Peace; Tapestry Opera; The Atlanta Opera

FEMALE SINGER

Aigul Akhmetshina; Eleonora Buratto; Elīna Garanča; Ermonela Jaho; Golda Schultz; Corinne Winters

FESTIVAL

Bayreuth Baroque; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; O. Festival, Rotterdam; Grange Festival; Handel Festival, Halle; O23 (Opera Philadelphia)

MALE SINGER

Mika Kares; Tomasz Konieczny; Luca Salsi; Ryan Speedo Green; Michael Spyres; Michael Volle

NEW PRODUCTION

War & Peace (Bayerische Staatsoper/Tcherniakov); Les contes d’Hoffmann (Opera Australia/Michieletto); Nixon in China (Opera national de Paris/Carrasco); Wozzeck (ROH/Warner); The Greek Passion (Salzburg Festival/Stone); Orfeo (Santa Fe Opera/Sharon); Il trittico (Scottish Opera/McVicar); Il turco in Italia (Teatro Real/Pelly)

OPERA COMPANY

Bayerische Staatsoper; Grand Théâtre de Genève; Opera Comique; San Francisco Opera; Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Volksoper Wien

OPERA READERS’ AWARD

Piotr Beczała; Nicholas Brownlee; Freddie De Tommaso; Michael Fabiano; Sally Matthews; Lisette Oropesa; Sondra Radvanovsky; Nadine Sierra

RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA)

Dessau: Lanzelot (Audite); Franck: Hulda (Bru Zane); Lully: Psyché(Chateau de Versailles Spectacles); Mercadante: Il proscritto (Opera Rara); Puccini: Turandot (Warner Classics); Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve (Naxos)

RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL)

Cyrille Dubois: So Romantique! (Alpha); Javier Camarena: Signor Gaetano (Pentatone); Jodie Devos: Bijoux perdus (Alpha); Lisette Oropesa: French Bel Canto Arias (Pentatone); Marina Viotti: A Tribute to Pauline Viardot (Aparte); Sonya Yoncheva: The Courtesan (SY11 Productions)

REDISCOVERED WORK

Salieri: La fiera di Venezia (Bampton Classical Opera); Raff: Samson (Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar); Massenet: Le Roi de Lahore (Dorset Opera); Moniuszko: Jawnuta (Poznań Opera House); Corselli: Achille in Sciro (Teatro Real); Weingartner: Orestes (Theater Erfurt); Tournemire: La légende de Tristan (Theater Ulm)

SUSTAINABILITY

17h25 Collective; Dutch National Opera; English National Opera; Theatre Green Book; Glyndebourne; La Monnaie De Munt

WORLD PREMIERE

Alexander Raskatov: Animal Farm (Dutch National Opera); George Benjamin: Picture a Day Like This (Festival d’Aix en Provence); Raquel Garcia-Tomas: Alexina B. (Gran Teatre del Liceu); Soren Nils Eichberg: Oryx and Crake (Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden); Yevhen Stankovych: Terrible Revenge (Lviv Opera); Kevin Puts: The Hours (Metropolitan Opera); Gabriela Lena Frank: El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (San Diego Opera); Sheila Silver: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera); David Hackbridge-Johnson: Blaze of Glory! (Welsh National Opera)

YOUNG SINGER

Sara Blanch; Andrzej Filończyk; Adriana González; Laurence Kilsby; Young Woo Kim; Gabriele Kupšytė; Josh Lovell; Blaise Malaba; Marigona Qerkezi; Beth Taylor