Legends, young tenors shine at Opera Oscars
Celebration of excellence
Over the past few months the tension has increased among the academicians — both professionals and the critics and also among the Opera lovers as proposals continue to pour in from several countries around the world to award the Oscars to those they favor.
The list was long because there are 20 different categories of awards which the artistes can be nominated for. For example the Best — Female and Male Singers, Conductor, Director, Designer, Chorus, World Premiere, Rediscovered Work, New Production, CD & DVD Records, and least but not the last the Opera Theatre and Festival. It created a long and ‘short list’ which was prepared a couple of weeks ago and opened for voting almost last night.
Last night looked like one week ago, Sunday, May 15, 2016 when the winners of the International Opera Awards were announced in a ceremony hosted by BBC Radio presenter Petroc Trelawny at The Savoy Theatre in London.
The Opera stars and their supporters had gathered for an evening of celebrations, celebrating the excellence in opera and raising funds for the Opera Awards.
NB: The International Opera Awards was founded by Harry Hyman, a UK businessman and great supporter of opera, and John Allison, influential Editor of Opera Magazine and classic music critics from The Daily Telegraph, who chairs of honorable jury and the Award.
The awards soon became highly prestigious between the opera artistes and the circles of Opera lovers and this was confirmed by its nickname the ‘Opera Oscars’. The founders say: ‘The aim of the event is to promote excellence in Opera and to promote it at the international level. Whilst there are a number of individual awards given to opera production and opera singers by a number of broader artistic awards there is no dedicated awards event for the opera itself.’
Emerging
The Bursaries will also be awarded for emerging artist within the sector. The Opera Awards Foundation has been set up to support aspiring talent within the Opera community and a percentage of the proceeds from the awards will go to this Foundation — a trust which aims to help those at the start of their Opera career.
The elite, ‘cream of the cream’ of Opera artists, supporters and lovers warmly applauded the announcement as well as the live performances of this and previous years’ winners.
As in the movie Oscar ceremony the top emotions woke up personal awards. There are so many legends of even cruel rivalry between opera-divas in the history of the Opera.
I think the level of rivalry between male heroes is not less than their female counterparts but the Three Tenors in harmony was an exception. (Not to mention the ballet: let me remind you of the famous attempt to murder the well-known Russian Theatre director by a renowned balletmaster.) There are exciting criminal stories such as the ‘Vampires behind the curtain’ and they have succeeded, not only between connoisseurs of the Opera.
One of nominees for the Opera Oscar for The Best Female Singer was the legendary Russian Anna Netrebko from the Metropolitan Opera but this time the Award went to Italian Mariella Devia, a lyric coloratura soprano.
In recent years she has also enjoyed much success with some of the most dramatic roles in the ‘bel canto repertoire’.
Born in Chiusavecchia and graduated from the St Cecilia in Roma, she debuted as Lucia di Lammermoor in Treviso and quickly made her debut as Gulietta at the historic La Scala, Milan. It took her to Paris, London, NY Metropolitan and the Carnegie Hall. She specialized in Mozart and — Italian operas.
Applause
The Award was a kind of a birthday present for The Best Young Female Singer, the Lithuanian of Armenian origin, Asmik Gregorian a soprano from Mariinsky Theatre. Her competitors were two young singers from Russia, two from South Africa and one from the US. Nobody knows the amount of tears shed and the rounds of applause after the results were declared.
The Best Male Singer Award went to tenor from the US, Gregory Kunde. Born in Kankakee, Illinois studied and debuted in Chicago, at the well known Lyric Opera (in Otello). As des Grieux in Massenet’s ‘Manon’ he debuted on the stage of the Metropolitan. Soon he won considerable acclaim in Europe, especially in Italy, conquering the opera audience as the first ever tenor singing in one year both versions of ‘Otello’ by Rossini and Verdi.
Between his successors, the title for The Best Young Male Singer went to the Polish-French tenor, Stanislas de Barbeyrac from Bordeaux, who after graduation in 2008 joined the Paris Opera.
Except for his basic theatre, he performed as a guest at many European operas including the Royal Opera, but also offered himself for the oratorios and Lieder repertoire. He won several competitions in Paris and the Queen Elizabeth award in London among the others.
The Best Conductor category was totally dominated by the Italians — the ‘Junior’ title went to Giacomo Sangripanti, considered as one of the most interesting of his generation among the international panorama. He debuted in Germany, Switzerland, Paris, Moscow, Spain and Italy. Now he awaits his debuts in the UK, Berlin and Monaco. For his age it sounds just brilliant.
The ‘Senior’ award went to none other than Gianandrea Noseda, Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC and Principal Guest Conductor of London Symphony Orchestra. He runs the project with the BBC Philharmonics as well as the Principal Conductor with Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. If we knew his professors were Italian, Russian and Chinese we would say he belongs to the category of the citizens of the world.
This year the jury honored the 77-year-old German mezzo soprano opera singer, Brigitte Fassbaender with the Lifetime Achievements award. Sometimes an artiste’s life is similar to sportsman.
At the young and adult age we are stage (stadium) performers, after some time we become teachers (trainers) and finish the career as managers (of the club or theatre).
Career
Mme Brigitte’s career was exactly like that. She studied singing with her father, the well-known baritone and debuted at the Bavarian Opera in 1961. Soon she was on the prestigious stages of Covent Garden and the Metropolitan.
After an international career and with many records to her credit she held regular master classes and finally became a director at Innsbruck theatre in Austria. This distinguish lady is an honorary Chevalier of the legion d’honneur among others.
My space shrinks and panic sets in. Let me mention other winners and leave behind some interesting description of some fascinating people, places and events to the next article.
The Best Opera Company for 2016 was the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, The Best Director was French Laurent Pelly, The Best Choir went to the English National Opera, The Best Designer was Vicky Mortimer, The Best Production was of B. Britten’s Peter Grimes in Vienna, The World Premiere ‘Cold Mountain’ by contemporary American Jennifer Hidgon (Santa Fe Opera), Rediscovered Work went to Le Roi Carrot (J. Offenbach), CD Operatic Recital winner was Ann Hallenberg’ ‘Agrippina’, CD Complete Opera Les Martyrs (Opera Rara), DVD — Tsar’s Braid (Bel Air), Accessibility — The Opera Platform and — Reader’s Award Winner was Ermonela Jaho. Wow, that was interesting.
Of course the Opera Oscar Awards are not as widely popular as film Oscars. It is difficult to compare the numbers of lovers of those two ‘species’, masses on movies and elites in opera spectacles. However the opera has at last made a lot of efforts to leave the museum cabinets and go to wider audience circles. The ‘Open Opera’ has become open for open audience, often in open spaces. And it opened ways for its revival.
How is with the opera in Kuwait? Next Friday, on May 27 you will listen to several Opera arias as well as songs, hits and popular Kuwaiti renditions during the Festival of the Treasure of Talent which is held at the amazing Al-Shaheed Park from 11:00 am onwards until the Gala Concert at 7:00 pm comprising the piano, flute and violin compositions, presented by professional musicians from the Kuwait Music Academy and the young talents of every age and level.
The entrance is free and all lovers of music are most welcome.
Editor’s Note: Cezary Owerkowicz is the chairman of the Kuwait Chamber of Philharmonia and talented pianist. He regularly organises concerts by well-known musicians for the benefit of music lovers and to widen the knowledge of music in Kuwait. His e-mail address is: cowerkowicz @ yahoo.com and cowerkowicz@hotmail.com