(Credit: Gerard Collett / Catherine Ashmore)

The Music Section of the Critics’ Circle has announced the winners of its 2019 Annual Awards.

Taking home the award for Young Talent (Voice) was soprano Louise Alder. As far as Best Opera Production, the Royal Opera House’s “Billy Budd” took home the high mark.

Regarding Alder’s win, the Critics’ Circle noted that the soprano “has already become a favorite with British audiences for her gleaming, expressive soprano, a luminous voice that she colors with outstanding imagination and skill.”

Regarding the Best Opera Production, the organization commented that “empowered by a superb cast conducted by Ivor Bolton and led by Toby Spence, Jaques Imbrailo and Brindley Sherratt, Deborah Warner’s vision of ‘Billy Budd’ for the Royal Opera House, brilliantly designed by Michael Levine and magically lit by Jean Kalman, was that rare thing: a staging that grew organically out of the score and text to illuminate the motives and emotions of the characters through an interpretation of hauntingly resonant power.”

Other notable winners include legendary conductor Bernard Haitink’s Lifetime Achievement, Maxi Emelyanychev for Young Talent (Conductor), Donghoon Shin for Young Talent (Composer), Pavel Kolesnikov for Young Talent (Piano), and Timothy Ridout for Young Talent (Instrumental).