Our friends at Komische Oper Berlin won in the best opera company category in 2015. Opera Philadelphia will present the Komische’s imaginative reimagining of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 2017 at our first annual Festival O.

The International Opera Awards, an event championing the finest operatic talent around the world, are run by British monthly Opera magazine. They founded four years ago by businessman Harry Hyman and Opera editor and London’s The Daily Telegraph classical music critic John Allison. Winners are selected by an international six-person jury, chaired by Allison. It is the only event of its kind to throw its scope across the entire opera industry, from singers to designers to rediscovered works.

Among the nominees were Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain (The Santa Fe Opera) as best World Premiere; soprano Christine Goerke, who will sing Turandot with us in September, is nominated as Best Female Singer; and tenor Michele Angelini, who makes his Opera Philadelphia debut in February 2017 in Tancredi, was nominated as Best Young Male Singer.

Winners will be announced on May 15 at a ceremony in London. Our collective fingers are crossed!