Amanda Batista has awarded the 2025 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award.

In a statement, Batista said, “It is my great honor to share that I am the recipient of the 2025 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award. Hildegard Behrens was a one of a kind artist – one celebrated not only for the strength and beauty of her instrument, but for her commitment to risk taking and how unapologetically she sewed the fabric of her being into the roles she sung. It’s my great honor to receive this prestigious award in memory such an artist, one whom I both greatly admire and who fiercely inspires my art making. I am deeply thankful to Mr. Ormazábal and the entire Hildegard Behrens Foundation for this generous investment in my career, and for their tremendous support of my artistry. The wind is behind my sails, and I’m on my way. I am also thrilled to share one of my favorite shots from an incredible session with Dario Acosta. At this moment in my life, in so many ways, I feel like I’m finally seeing myself for the first time.”

Batista has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Aspen Music Festival, San Francisco Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera National de Paris. this season she will debut at The Atlanta Opera as Mimì in “La Bohème” and returns to the Met to cover the role of Berta in the return of Bartlett Sher’s production of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.”

The 2025 Hildegard Behrens Foundation award ceremony at the Metropolitan Opera Grand Tier was held on Feb. 9, 2025, with HBF board member Richard Strother, voice teacher Darrell Babidge, Carmelo Batista, and Lilia Batista.

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