A winner’s tableau between the Ukrainian star conductor Oksana Lyniv and her Belgian colleague René Jacobs was honored in Dortmund on Monday evening. The “Oper!” Awards were presented to the greats of the guild in the local opera house. The Dortmund Opera, directed by Heribert Germeshausen, had already been voted German Opera House of the Year in January.
The US soprano Lisette Oropesa was honored in the evening as the best singer, her German colleague, baritone Michael Volle, as the best of the men. Claus Guth secured the title among the directors, and Zurich’s General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda was named Outstanding Conductor 2022.
The 45-year-old Ukrainian Lyniv, chief conductor in Graz until 2020, was delighted to receive the honor in the “Outstanding Commitment” section. This not only honors her pioneering commitment, being the first woman to conduct a premiere at the Bayreuth Festival, but also her tireless artistic commitment against Russia’s war of aggression against her homeland. The 76-year-old early music expert René Jacobs was honored for his life’s work. Finally, in the Best Festival category, Pierre Audi’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence was chosen as the winner.
The “Oper!” Awards, initiated by the specialist magazine of the same name in 2019, traditionally not only have happy faces, but the anti-prize for the “biggest annoyance” is also awarded among the 20 prize categories. This went to the theater forecourt in Krefeld. “The city’s homeless addicts live on the Theaterplatz, with everything that goes with it: violence, desperation, destruction, garbage, dirt, death,” said the jury: “Insidiously ticked off and left to decay, but with the modern inferno of the social produced human waste at the same time a piece of culture.”
(S E R V I C E – www.oper-awards.com/)