Background
About the Awards
Since 2019, the OPER! AWARDS have given independent, non-commercial recognition of outstanding achievements in the international opera world.
Our History
The OPER! AWARDS were founded in 2019 by Ulrich Ruhnke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the specialist magazine OPER!. The award was born from the conviction that, alongside the international opera awards already in existence, there was a need for an award that recognizes artistic achievement independently of institutional interests and commercial influences. Those who run an opera house, engage artists, or are otherwise professionally involved in the opera industry should not at the same time serve as jurors deciding on awards for those with whom they have professional ties.
From the outset, the jury of the OPER! AWARDS has consisted exclusively of journalists. Intendants, casting directors and all other representatives of the opera industry are not eligible to serve on the jury. The jury evaluates artistic achievement from an independent journalistic perspective and is committed solely to recognizing artistic excellence.
Germany offered particularly favorable conditions for the creation of a new international opera award. No other country in the world has a comparable number of opera houses and performances. Yet until the establishment of the OPER! AWARDS, there was no international award in Germany that gave outstanding achievements in opera a public platform.
The first OPER! AWARDS took place in 2019 at the Konzerthaus Berlin. In 20 categories, leading figures and extraordinary achievements from the international opera world were honored. Since 2023, the awards ceremony has regularly taken place at the opera house that receives the OPER! AWARD for “Best Opera House” in the respective year.
Our Mission
The OPER! AWARDS honor artists and professionals on and behind the stage whose work shapes opera, pushes boundaries and sets new standards.
The public awards ceremony is a central part of the OPER! AWARDS. It brings the international opera community together, puts its outstanding personalities and achievements center stage, and gives the art form itself a public platform.
At the same time, the gala reaches beyond the opera world. It showcases the diversity, relevance and artistic power of opera and creates opportunities for audiences who have previously had little or no connection with the art form to encounter it.
The OPER! AWARDS thus stand for an independent journalistic perspective, an international outlook and the recognition of artistic excellence.