Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, host of this year's International Opera Awards | Photo: Adobe Stock

Culture is the antidote to angst, said Elif Shafak, the well-known British-Turkish novelist, and I couldn’t agree more. We live in angst-ridden times, compounded by pandemics, wars and climate change. As the necessary pause in the daily fast-moving stream of information, culture has the ability to truly transport us away from the preoccupations of our regular lives and transform our emotional landscapes.

There is no purer example of culture, par excellence, than the opera. I genuinely believe opera is the pinnacle of artistic expression. My perspective is not as a critic, an expert or an amateur performer. I am an entrepreneur and built my career growing businesses in property and publishing. I don’t have any formal role in the opera world but I maintain a great admiration for the art of it. It simply occurred to me one evening – in the middle of a performance – to wonder why theatre, TV and film should all have their own dedicated awards ceremonies, but not opera. Although I did not have those industry links, what I did have was a great deal of expertise in how to organise and manage awards ceremonies and I decided to use it.

When, in 2012, I set up the International Opera Awards, I was aiming high: to raise the profile of opera as an art form, to recognise and reward success in opera and to help provide bursaries for aspiring operatic talent from around the world. I have always been surprised to see the differences in attitudes and funding to opera houses in the UK and other European countries. It still shocks me that Germany boasts over 80 opera companies while it is only a handful in the UK, and I wanted to do something about it.

I am an ambitious man, and the Awards were certainly an ambitious project, but I can say, just over a decade on, that this project has surpassed my expectations. The awards exist to celebrate the great achievers of the industry, but above all to provide bursaries for aspiring talent in opera from around the world. The whole point is to support young talent, to promote good governance and to make the industry more accessible and more diverse. Without celebration and tangible support, I fear that opera, already under threat from severe funding cuts, will truly wither.

Over the years, we have given out almost 100 bursary awards and have been joined by performers like Lawrence Brownlee, Ermonela Jaho, Bryan Hymel, Anita Rachvelishvili, Stuart Skelton and Charles Castronovo. This year, we received nearly 14,000 nominations from across five continents. We have presented awards at some of the UK and Europe’s most prominent opera venues: at the London Coliseum, at Sadler’s Wells, at Teatro Real in Madrid, and this year at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.

'There is no purer example of culture, par excellence, than the opera'

I am not immune to worries about the future of the opera. Whilst the latest round of funding cuts is definitely a threat, I do believe that the opera and opera performers can offer the rest of us a masterclass in resilience. The journey to becoming a successful opera singer is filled with challenges: intense competition, the need to find the right training, financial constraints, and the physical demands of mastering multiple languages and vocal techniques. I think that the role the Opera Awards must play as an institution if they are truly to make an impact on opera’s development and its future, is to recognise the challenges facing the industry and offer a timely response.

When the pandemic hit entertainment and culture around the globe and opera supporters like me feared that we would lose a generation of talent, The International Opera Awards Foundation established an Artist Hardship Fund, providing emergency grants to previous bursary recipients facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. Through the challenges and with a little support, we have seen remarkable performers, designers and répétiteur like baritone Jack Holton emerge.

The war in Ukraine, with Russia’s relentless shelling of civilian infrastructure, should have stopped cultural endeavour in its tracks. Yet the opera houses of Lviv and Odesa continue not only to put on performances but create remarkable new productions, both recognised as Opera Company of Year at the Award ceremony last year. In fact, this year, the Warsaw National Theatre, Teatr Wielki will step in to host our November ceremony on behalf of their Ukrainian colleagues.  

It's that ‘per ardua ad astra’ attitude that convinces me that we, a community formed by the creators of operatic spectacle and its enamoured fans, can make sure that opera is here to provide enjoyment and calm our angst for generations to come.

© Harry Hyman

Harry Hyman is an entrepreneur and philanthropist and the Founder of the International Opera Awards | The International Opera Awards takes place on 9 November 2023 | operaawards.org