International Opera Awards 2026
Following its recognition as Opera Company of the Year in 2025, MusikTheater an der Wien hosts the 2026 International Opera Awards ceremony. OperaVision streams live the complete ceremony featuring an exciting array of categories and performances by featured artists.
Founded in 2012 and known as opera’s Oscars, the International Opera Awards are the annual celebration of excellence in the international opera scene. The awards aim to recognise and reward success, create scholarships for emerging talent and raise the profile of opera. This year's jury is chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera with Opera News magazine.
NOMINEES 2026
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Conductor
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Riccardo Chailly
Marie Jacquot
Václav Luks
Joana Mallwitz
Maxime Pascal
Nathalie Stutzmann
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Designer
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Jon Bausor
Anisha Fields
Marg Howell
Ines Nadler
Francis O'Connor
Raimund Orfeo Voigt
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Director
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Vasily Barkhatov
Romeo Castellucci
Lotte de Beer
Netia Jones
Tobias Kratzer
Lydia Steiner
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Equal opportunities
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Cincinnati Opera – Black Opera Project
Fundación Ibáñez Atkinson – Young Artist Programme
Second Movement – Rough for Opera
Opera North – Melodic Memories
Staatsoper Stuttgart – Station Paradiso
Teatro Real – Agrupación Musical Inclusiva
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Female singer
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Louise Alder
Sara Blanch
Vera-Lotte Boecker
Ambur Braid
Saioa Hernández
Golda Schultz
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Festival
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Bregenz Festival
Garsington Opera
Monteverdi Festival Cremona
Prototype Festival
Sofia Opera Wagner Festival
Teatro Nuovo
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Male singer
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SeokJong Baek
Lawrence Brownlee
Clay Hilley
John Osborn
Morris Robinson
Georg Zeppenfeld
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Musical theatre
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La Cage aux Folles, Théâtre du Châtelet
Killing Carmen, Volksoper Wien
The Sound of Music, Opera North
El barberillo de Lavapiés, Theater Basel
Jesus Christ Superstar, Komische Oper Berlin
The Light in the Piazza, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
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New production
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A Midsummer Night's Dream, Teatro Real/The Royal Ballet and Opera/Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Deborah Warner
Bluthochzeit, Oper Frankfurt/Àlex Ollé
Dead Man Walking, English National Opera/Annilese Miskimmon
Die Fledermaus, MusikTheater an der Wien/Stefan Herheim
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence/Barrie Kosky
Prince Igor, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz/Roland Schwab
Rienzi, Bayreuther Festspiele/Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka
Tristan und Isolde, Metropolitan Opera/Yuval Sharon
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Opera company
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Atlanta Opera
Croatian National Opera, Zagreb
English National Opera
Hamburgische Staatsoper
Opéra de Lyon
Teatro Real, Madrid
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Readers' Award
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Aigul Akhmetshina
Allan Clayton
Lise Davidsen
Rosa Feola
Lisette Oropesa
Andreas Schager
Jonathan Tetelman
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Recording (complete opera)
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Barber: Vanessa, National Symphony Orchestra
De Hartmann: Esther, Pentatone
Dennehy: The First Child, Signum
Giordano: Marina, Decca
Handel: Giulio Cesare, Naxos
Traetta: Ifigenia in Tauride, Aparté
Weill: Love Life, Capriccio
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Recording (solo recital)
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Katie Bray: In Search of Youkali, Chandos
Malin Byström: German Opera Scenes and Arias, BIS
Véronique Gens: Les Divas d'Offenbach, Alpha Classics
Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee: Golden Age, Pentatone
Jakub Józef Orliński: If music …, Erato/Warner Classics
Sondra Radvanovsky: Puccini Heroines, Pentatone
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Rediscovered work
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Bembo: Ercole amante, Opéra de Paris
Cavalli: Pompeo Magno, Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival
Cesti: Il pomo d'oro, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik
De Grandval: Mazeppa, Oper Dortmund
Noskowski: Wyrok, Teatr Wielki, Poznań
Ostrčil: Legenda z Erinu, National Theatre, Prague
Villa-Lobos: Yerma, Ópera de Tenerife
Weingartner: Kain und Abel, Staatstheater Darmstadt
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Rising star
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Keren Kagarlitsky
Madison Leonard
Girogi Manoshvili
Dave Monaco
Patricia Nolz
Lauranne Oliva
Lorenzo Passerini
Sahy Ratia
Ian Rucker
Chelsea Zurflüh
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Sustainability
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Collectif 17h25 – MOD 200
Glyndebourne – Wildlife Corridor
La Monnaie – Green Opera
Longborough Festival Opera
Project Butterfly – Modena/Helsinki/Gdańsk
Santa Fe Opera
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World premiere
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Bell/Steier: Medusa, La Monnaie/De Munt
Coll/Rigola: Enemigo del pueblo, Palau de les Arts/Teatro Real
Dean/Betts: Of One Blood, Bayerische Staatsoper
Mazzoli/Vavrek: The Galloping Cure, Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures Productions/Edinburgh International Festival
Mernier/Fort: Bartleby, Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège
Palmer/Purcell: The Drover's Wife, Opera Australia/Queensland Performing Arts Centre/Oombarra Productions
Ruo/Hwang: The Monkey King, San Francisco Opera
Sciarrino/Turroni: L'Agamennone, Bühnen Bern
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THE NOMINEES ON OPERAVISION
Ahead of the International Opera Awards 2026, OperaVision celebrates several nominees whose work you can enjoy on our platform. Discover the nominated artists and productions below, and join us live on 21 November for the Awards ceremony!
WORLD PREMIERE & DIRECTOR
Iain Bell's Medusa premiered this year – and OperaVision was there to broadcast it live. Now, the opera is nominated for the category World Premiere. On top of that, Lydia Steier, the librettist and director for this production, is nominated in the Director category. You can watch the full performance of Medusa until 15 November.
FEMALE SINGER
Up for the Female Singer award, Sara Blanch has starred in multiple productions shown on OperaVision, such as Handel's oratorio La resurrezione.
MALE SINGER
Nominee John Osborn has starred in many productions shown on OperaVision, most recently as Arturo in Teatro Regio Torino's I Puritani. Alongside him, Georg Zeppenfeld has been nominated in the same category; you can see him as Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra by the Dutch National Opera and Ballet.
MUSICAL THEATRE
Earlier this year, OperaVision streamed El barberillo de Lavapiés from Theater Basel, which now is up for an award in the Musical Theatre category. You can learn more about the production below.
READERS' AWARD
Lise Davidsen has been nominated for the Readers' Award, the category decided through an audience vote. At OperaVision, Lise Davidsen took to the stage in LISE in 2024.
RISING STAR
OperaVision has had the pleasure of showing quite a few talents nominated in the Rising Star category! Madison Leonard took on the title role in Garsington’s latest La traviata, and Dave Monaco can be seen as Flaminio in Il trionfo dell'onore by Teatro La Fenice, both productions are available to stream right now! On top of that, Lauranne Oliva starred as Rozanne in Le Roi d'Ys from Opéra National du Rhin, and Ian Rucker was among the finalists at the vocal competition Neue Stimmen 2024.
