Oper! Awards

Germany is the country with the highest number of opera houses worldwide, nowhere else are more operas and operettas being performed. The OPER! AWARDS are Germany’s only international opera prize, presented annually during a gala to the best creatives of the international opera scene, working on or behind the stage. The awards are presented across 20 categories by a jury of music journalists.

THE JURY of the
OPER! AWARDS

Manuel Brug

Dr. Eleonore Büning

Uwe Friedrich

Georg Kasch

Dr. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser

Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke

Founder of the OPER! AWARDS
and Chair of the OPER! AWARDS Jury

Stephan Schwarz-Peters

Franziska Stürz

Christian Wildhagen

Manuel Brug

Born in Munich in 1965, after ballet training he studied drama, comparative literature, Romance studies and musicology. After working for Bayerischer Rundfunk and ARD, as a music and dance critic for Süddeutsche Zeitung, editor of Opernwelt, Wochenpost und Tagesspiegel, since 1998 he has been on the arts and music desk of Die Welt, with responsibility for other media since 2017. In 1999 he received the critics’ prize of the Salzburg Festival. Among his book publications are “Die neuen Sängerstimmen” (2003), “Opernregisseure heute” (2006) and “Rolando Villazón – Die Kunst, Tenor zu sein” (2008).

Dr. Eleonore Büning

Born in Frankfurt/Main, she learned violin and piano, studied musicology, comparative literature and dramatics at Freie Universität Berlin, and wrote her PhD on the early reception of Beethoven. Initially, she worked as a freelance journalist for a number of newspapers (such as Weltwoche, taz, Rheinischer Merkur) and radio stations (SFB, SWR, SDR, WDR to name a few). From 1994 to 1997 she was music editor of Die Zeit, from 1997 to 2018 of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, since then she has been freelancing again. She has published books and been a member of various juries (e.g. chair of the German Record Critics’ Award). Since 2016 she has been on the advisory board of the German Music Competition (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb), in 2018 she became an honorary member of the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat). She has been awarded the “Joseph-Roth-Preis” (Klagenfurt), the “Heidelberger Musikpreis” and “Pro-Musica-Viva-Preis” (Mainz).

Uwe Friedrich

He was born in Cologne and studied musicology and dramatics. He entered journalism at Deutschlandradio Kultur, Deutschlandfunk and Bayerischer Rundfunk before returning to Berlin, freelancing for Deutschlandfunk and other ARD radio stations on the music scene, with a special focus on opera. He writes for Der Tagesspiegel and a number of specialist magazines, produces music features and is happy to teach younger colleagues through seminars. Uwe Friedrich lives in Berlin and The Hague.

Georg Kasch

Georg Kasch studied modern German literature, theatre studies and cultural journalism in Berlin and Munich. Since 2010 he has been an editor at nachtkritik.de in Berlin, where he is responsible for musical theatre, among other things. He also writes for daily newspapers and magazines. He teaches at universities in Berlin and Munich and was a member of the jury for the Federal Theatre Prize, the Berlin Senate Jury for Performing Arts and Dance and the jury for the Berlin Theatertreffen. His areas of focus include the future of cultural journalism, queerness in opera and inclusive dramaturgies.

Dr. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser

Born in Bremen, since 1999 he has been writing for all the important German daily papers as well as for Oper!, Fono Forum, Musik & Theater, Rondo, Tip of Berlin and rbb Kultur. For the latter he has been presenting, since 2008, the weekly feature “Music City Berlin”. He is a jury member of the annual and quarterly sessions of the German Record Critics’ Award (since 2012). He lives in Berlin and Vienna.

Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke

Dr Ulrich Ruhnke studied art history, musicology, philosophy and cultural management in Cologne and Berlin; doctorate on the perception of opera. Journalist for various newspapers and specialist magazines, editor of the magazine “das Orchester”. 2015 foundation of the professional journal OPER!, 2019 initiation of the OPER! AWARDS, Germany’s only publicly awarded prize for the international opera industry. Ruhnke lives in Berlin and Munich.

Stephan Schwarz-Peters

Born in 1977 in Wiesbaden, he studied composition and law in Essen, Mainz and Cologne, followed by advanced studies in cultural journalism at the Bayerische Theaterakademie in Munich. After cutting his teeth as a freelancer, he worked as editor for Fono Forum magazine from 2008 until 2015, followed by a position as research assistant at the Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum (German Music Information Centre, MIZ) in Bonn. Since moving to southern Germany he has been working as a freelancer and, since 2017, as editor of OPER!.

Franziska Stürz

Franziska Stürz comes from Munich, studied singing with KS Ingeborg Hallstein at the University of Music Würzburg and is an alumna of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation). As a soprano, she has been onstage at notable opera houses and international music festivals. Since 2005 she has also worked as a music journalist with a focus on musical theatre and Lied. She regularly reports for radio stations Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and is editor of BR Klassik’s weekly feature “Operetten-Boulevard”.

Christian Wildhagen

Christian Wildhagen was born in Hamburg, where he studied musicology, philosophy and German literature. At the same time he trained as a pianist with Inga Harp and Trefor Smith. In 1999 he completed his PhD with a monograph on Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony. Early in his journalistic career he worked for the ‘Hamburger Abendblatt’. From 2003 to 2007 he was chief dramaturge and member of the artistic direction of the Theater Hagen. From 2008 to 2015 he was a staff writer of the arts pages of the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’. Since 2015 he has been the music editor of the ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’.

Best costume designer
Best solo album
Best opera recording
Best newcomer
Best rediscovery
Best future project
Best festival
Honorary / lifetime achievement
Best benefactor
Biggest nuisance

BECOME A PARTNER

Whether as a private or corporate supporter of the OPER! AWARDS, you will become part of the most important prize in Germany dedicated to the international opera business. Help us to give deserved recognition to the leading artists or align your business objectives with the OPER! AWARDS.

Each year, the OPER! AWARDS’ wide publicity goes well beyond audiences of opera buffs and specialist media, reaching young, new target groups not yet familiar with this art form.

Whatever your aims when becoming a private or corporate OPER! AWARDS sponsor, we can offer individual solutions based on your ideas and requirements. Why not talk to us and find out how we can offer optimum support to you? The OPER! AWARDS set great value on sound and trustful cooperation, for each partnership is as unique as the people joining it.

We look forward to getting to know you!

Contact:
Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke
Phone: +49 (0)30 220 117 690
Mail: info@oper-awards.com

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THE JURY of the
OPER! AWARDS

Manuel Brug

Dr. Eleonore Büning

Uwe Friedrich

Georg Kasch

Dr. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser

Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke

Stephan Schwarz-Peters

Franziska Stürz

Christian Wildhagen

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THE JURY of the OPER! AWARDS

Manuel Brug

Dr. Eleonore Büning

Uwe Friedrich

Georg Kasch

Dr. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser

Dr. Ulrich Ruhnke

Stephan Schwarz-Peters

Franziska Stürz

Christian Wildhagen

AWARD CATEGORIES

BECOME A PARTNER

OUR PARTNERS & SPONSORS

MEDIA PARTNERS

Tickets

Contact

OPER! Awards

Quick Links

Folgen Sie uns

Follow us

THE JURY of the
OPER! AWARDS