Shortlist announced for International Opera Awards

The shortlist has been announced for the 2016 International Opera Awards, which will take place on 15 May in central London.

A jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic for The Daily Telegraph has selected the nominees.

Other members of the jury included musicologist and founder of Hong Kong-based Museworks Ltd, Joanna C Lee; Joan Matabosch, artistic director of Teatro Real in Madrid; Evans Mirageas, artistic director of Cincinnati Opera and the vice-president for artistic planning for The Atlanta Symphony; Annilese Miskimmon, opera director, general manager and artistic director Danish National Opera and incoming director of Opera of Den Norske Opera and Ballet; Nicholas Payne, director of Opera Europa; Sebastian Schwarz,  outgoing deputy artistic director of Theater an der Wien and recently announced new general director of Glyndebourne; and Lyndon Terracini, artistic director of Opera Australia.

The shortlist is a follows:

Accessibility
Atlanta Opera
Birmingham Opera Company
English Touring Opera
Monster in the Maze (Aix-en-Provence, Berlin, London)
Opera Holland Park
The Opera Platform

CD (Complete Opera)
Brett Dean: Bliss, ABC Classics
Donizetti: Les Martyrs, Opera Rara
Handel: Partenope, Erato
Nielsen: Maskarade, Dacapo
Smetana: Dalibor, Onyx
Verdi: Aida, Warner

CD (Operatic Recital)
Diana Damrau: Fiamma del Belcanto, Warner
Ann Hallenberg: Agrippina, DHM
Bryan Hymel: Héroïque, Warner
Christiane Karg: Scene!, Berlin Classics
Matthew Rose: Arias for Benucci, Hyperion
Sonya Yoncheva: Paris, Mon Amour, Sony

Chorus
English National Opera
Glyndebourne
Komische Oper
Metropolitan Opera
MusicAeterna
Opera Vlaanderen

Conductor
René Jacobs
Vladimir Jurowski
Gianandrea Noseda
Carlo Rizzi
Christian Thielemann
Mark Wigglesworth

Designer
Michael Levine
Vicki Mortimer
Rebecca Ringst
Heike Scheele
Vita Tzykun
Annemarie Woods

Director
Kasper Holten
Damiano Michieletto
Katie Mitchell
Laurent Pelly
David Pountney
Mariusz Treliński

DVD
Puccini: Manon Lescaut (The Royal Opera), Sony
Rameau: Les Indes galantes (Les Talens Lyriques), Alpha
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar’s Bride (Staatsoper Berlin), Bel Air
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Glyndebourne), Opus Arte
Szymanowski: Król Roger (The Royal Opera), Opus Arte
Wagner: Tannhäuser (Bayreuth Festival), Opus Arte

Female Singer
Anna Bonitatibus
Mariella Devia
Rosa Feola
Christine Goerke
Evelyn Herlitzius
Anna Netrebko

Festival
Aix-en-Provence
Glyndebourne
Grimeborn
Ruhr Triennale
Santa Fe
Wexford

Male Singer
Javier Camarena
Anthony Roth Costanzo
Stéphane Degout
Igor Golovatenko
Gregory Kunde
Henry Waddington

New Production
Bellini: I Puritani, Welsh National Opera
Berg: Wozzeck, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Britten: Peter Grimes, Theater an der Wien
Halévy: La Juive, Opera Vlaanderen
Handel: Saul, Glyndebourne
Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, Salzburg Easter Festival

Opera Company
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Dutch National Opera
Opera Philadelphia
Polish National Opera
Theater an der Wien
Welsh National Opera

Readers’ Award
Danielle De Niese
Joyce DiDonato
Michael Fabiano
Gerald Finley
Juan Diego Flórez
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Ermonela Jaho
Eva-Maria Westbroek

Rediscovered Work
Donizetti: Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo, English Touring Opera
Egk: Peer Gynt, Staatstheater Braunschweig
Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff, Wexford Festival
Offenbach: Le Roi Carotte, Opéra de Lyon
Porpora: Il Germanico, Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik
Tippett: The Ice Break, Birmingham Opera Company

World Premiere
Harrison Birtwistle: The Cure, Aldeburgh Festival
Pascal Dusapin: Penthesilea, La Monnaie
Hans Gefors: Notorious, Gothenburg Opera
Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain, Santa Fe Opera
Jimmy López: Bel Canto, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Kate Miller-Heidke: The Rabbits, Barking Gecko/Opera Australia/Perth and Melbourne Festivals

Young Conductor
Bassem Akiki
Matthew Aucoin
Mirga Gražinyté-Tyla
Christian Kluxen
Giacomo Sagripanti
Duncan Ward

Young Director
Fabio Ceresa
Daisy Evans
Max Hoehn
Sjaron Minailo
Eva-Maria Melbye
Rafael Villalobos

Young Female Singer
Ekaterina Bakanova
Aida Garifullina
Asmik Grigorian
Golda Schultz
Nadine Sierra
Nozuko Teto

Young Male Singer
Michele Angelini
Atalla Ayan
Stanislas de Barbeyrac
Ioan Hotea
Gyula Orendt
Fernando Javier Radó