OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll has announced the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards.

The magazine has announced that this year’s honorees will be conductor William Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva.

The honorees will be celebrated in a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City with Stephanie Blythe appearing as a special guest.

Per the press release, “Every year, OPERA NEWS looks forward to recognizing well-deserving artists at the OPERA NEWS AWARDS. We are grateful for the impact that these five phenomenal men and women have left on the opera world, and we are proud to honor them.”

This year’s honoree Christie has left an indeliable impact in the opera world with his interpretations of the French Baroque period as well as with his ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, which has presented groundbreaking productions of operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Claudio Monteverdi, among others.

Meanwhile, Cossotto is considered one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of the twentieth century. Cossotto was well known for her interpretations of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Lady Macbeth, Leonora in La Favorite and Carmen and at this year’s ceremony she will celebrate her 83 birthday.

Grigolo is one of today’s in-demand tenors who has become reknown for his work in Italian and French repertoire while Yoncheva hs seen her career skyrocket in the past few years. Both will reunite for “Tosca’ at the Metropolitan Opera and Yoncheva will become the soprano to be featured in three HD broadcasts at the Metropolitan Opera.

The final recipient will be Hong who has had one of the most successful Met careers since winning the 1982 Met National Council Auditions and has since sung at La Scala, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Paris Opera, Rome Opera and Arena di Verona.