Opera Vlaanderen has won the International Opera Award for Best Opera Company of the Year. It was the fourth time the company 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 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 finest: 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 to thunderous applause that Opera Vlaanderen was pulled from the golden envelope. It was the fourth time Opera Vlaanderen had been nominated in this category, but this time the prize could be claimed.
Artistic director Aviel Cahn accepted the award. "A great honour and the result of ten years of hard work by everyone involved in our company. On and behind the scenes, in the offices and workshops. It is above all an award for them. This award once again underscores that Opera Vlaanderen competes at the international top precisely because we present opera in an exciting, relevant and contemporary way. Hopefully this prize will inspire everyone who, like us, believes in the future of opera as a genre."
For Aviel Cahn, it is also a wonderful farewell gift. He leaves 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 was recently published: Opera Out of the Box 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 company won an Award for Best Wagner Anniversary Production with Parsifal by Richard Wagner, directed by Tatjana Gürbaca.
And there was more cause for celebration for Opera Vlaanderen. Set designer Rebecca Ringst, who designed the sets for the new production Les Bienveillantes which had its world premiere at Opera Vlaanderen last week, received the award 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 previously appeared 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 journal Opera and presented by an international jury of journalists and professionals from the international opera world.