Opera Vlaanderen has won the International Opera Award for Best Opera Company of the Year. It was the fourth time the house had been nominated in this category. "A great honour and a recognition of ten years of hard work," responds artistic director Aviel Cahn. The International Opera Awards, also known as the Toscars, were presented this evening during a gala at the Sadler Wells Theater in London.
At the end of the evening, all eyes were on the main prize: Best Opera Company of the Year. The nominees were among the best: Opéra national de Paris, Theater an der Wien, Houston Grand Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Gothenburg Opera also had a chance, but it was ultimately amid thunderous applause that Opera Vlaanderen was drawn from the golden envelope. It was the fourth time Opera Vlaanderen had been nominated in this category, but now the prize could be claimed.
Artistic director Aviel Cahn accepted the prize. "A great honour and the result of ten years of hard work by everyone involved with our house. In front of and behind the scenes, in the offices and workshops. It is especially an award for them. This award once again underlines that Opera Vlaanderen is competing at the international top precisely because we present opera in an exciting and relevant, contemporary way. Hopefully this prize will inspire everyone who, like us, believes in the future of the opera genre."
For Aviel Cahn, it is also a lovely farewell gift. He is leaving after this season for Geneva where he will become general director of Le grand théâtre de Genève. A book about his directorship at Opera Vlaanderen, Opera Out of the Box, was recently published by Stockmans Art Books. Opera Vlaanderen is a welcome guest at the International Opera Awards. In the past, Koor and the Symfonisch Orkest were regularly nominated and in 2014 the house won an Award for Best Wagner Anniversary Production with Parsifal by Richard Wagner in a production by Tatjana Gürbaca.
And there was more reason to celebrate for Opera Vlaanderen. Set designer Rebecca Ringst, who designed the set for the creation Les Bienveillantes which had its world premiere at Opera Vlaanderen last week, was awarded the prize for Best Designer. She previously designed the sets for Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Lady Macbeth van Mtsensk and Tannhäuser in Antwerp and Ghent.
Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian won the Award for Best Female Singer. Asmik was previously seen at Opera Vlaanderen in the productions La Juive and De Burcht van Hertog Blauwbaard. Opera Vlaanderen also congratulates the Janacek Brno Festival which won the Award for Best Festival. Last year Opera Vlaanderen was a guest there with the production De Zaak Makropoulos.
The International Opera Awards are organized by the respected trade publication Opera and presented by an international jury of journalists and professionals from the international opera world.
