The International Opera Awards have announced the nominees for its 2020 Awards.

The annual event, which celebrates achievement in opera around the globe over the 2019 calendar year, recognizes excellence in a wide range of categories that cover performance, design and direction, as well as education and outreach.

This year, two opera companies topped the 2020 nominees with three a piece. The Deutsche Oper am Rhein received nominations for Education & Outreach, New Production, and World Premiere while the Teatro Real received nominations for Opera Company, Opera Orchestra and World Premiere.

Meanwhile, the Royal Danish Opera, the Teatro La Fenice, Royal Opera House, La Monnaie, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Vlaanderen, and Deutsche Oper all received two nominations.

The nominees for Female Singer of the year included include Lise Davidsen, Maria Agresta, Christine Goerke, Kate Lindsey, Lisette Oropesa, and Elza van den Heever.

Meanwhile, in the Male Singer category Carlos Álvarez, Javier Camarena, Stephen Gould, René Pape, George Petean, and Russell Thomas were all nominated.

The Opera Magazine Readers’ Award saw Ildar Abdrazakov, Cecilia Bartoli, Jamie Barton, Elīna Garanča, Jonas Kaufmann, Karita Mattila, Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, Michael Spyres and Bryn Terfel nominated.

La Monnaie, Oper Frankfurt, Opéra Comique, Royal Opera House, and Teatro Real are nominated for Opera House of the year, considered the top prize of the evening.

Meanwhile, the Donizetti Opera Festival, Bergamo, Festival Castell de Peralada, George Enescu Festival, Bucharest, Macerata Opera Festival, O19 (Opera Philadelphia) and Salzburg Festival were shortlisted.

The awards gala will be held at London’s Sadler’s Wells on May 4 with special appearances from Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak.

Full list of nominees below: 

CHORUS
Deutsche Oper
Metropolitan Opera
Opera Vlaanderen
Royal Danish Opera
Welsh National Opera
Teatro Verdi, Trieste

CONDUCTOR
Alain Altinoglu
Riccardo Frizza
Edward Gardner
Oksana Lyniv
Joana Mallwitz
Kirill Petrenko

DESIGNER
Lizzie Clachan
Aleksandar Denić
Alban Ho Van
Christian Schmidt
Małgorzata Szczęśniak
Raimund Orfeo Voigt

DIRECTOR
Valentina Carrasco
Robert Carsen
Paul Curran
Lotte De Beer
Lydia Steier
Graham Vick

EDUCATION & OUTREACH
Birmingham Opera Company
Blackheath Halls Community Opera
Deutsche Oper am Rhein
La Fenice
Opera North
Theater an der Wien

FEMALE SINGER
Maria Agresta
Lise Davidsen
Christine Goerke
Kate Lindsey
Lisette Oropesa
Elza van den Heever

FESTIVAL
Donizetti Opera Festival, Bergamo
Festival Castell de Peralada
George Enescu Festival, Bucharest
Macerata Opera Festival
O19 (Opera Philadelphia)
Salzburg Festival

MALE SINGER
Carlos Álvarez
Javier Camarena
Stephen Gould
René Pape
George Petean
Russell Thomas

NEWCOMER
Andrea Bernard (director)
Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)
Finnegan Downie Dear (conductor)
Marie Jacquot (conductor)
Louisa Muller (director)
Dariusz Przybylski (composer)

NEW PRODUCTION
Handel: Agrippina, d. Barrie Kosky (Bayerische Staatsoper / Royal Opera House)
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tale of Tsar Saltan, d. Dmitri Tcherniakov (La Monnaie)
Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame, d. Lydia Steier (Deutsche Oper am Rhein)
Tchaikovsky: The Enchantress, d. Andriy Zholdak (Opéra de Lyon)
Wagner: Tannhäuser, d. Tobias Kratzer (Bayreuth Festival)
Wolf-Ferrari/Tchaikovsky: ll segreto di Susanna / Iolanta, d. John Wilkie / Olivia Fuchs (Opera Holland Park)

OPERA COMPANY
Finnish National Opera
La Monnaie
Oper Frankfurt
Opéra Comique
Royal Opera House
Teatro Real

OPERA ORCHESTRA
Bayerische Staatsoper
La Fenice
Le Concert d’Astrée
Oper Leipzig
Opera Vlaanderen
Teatro Real

RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA)
Beethoven: Leonore (Harmonia Mundi)
Gounod: Faust (Palazzetto Bru Zane)
Moniuszko: Halka (Fryderyk Chopin Institute)
Picker: Fantastic Mr Fox (Boston Modern Orchestra Project)
Thomas: Hamlet (Naxos)
Weill: Street Scene (Bel Air Classiques)

RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL)
Benjamin Bernheim: Benjamin Bernheim (Deutsche Grammophon)
Daniel Behle: Zero to Hero: Mozart (Sony)
Emöke Baráth: Voglio cantar (Erato)
Jakub Józef Orliński: Facce d’amore (Erato)
Julie Fuchs: Mademoiselle (Deutsche Grammophon)
Reinoud Van Mechelen: Dumesny: Haut-contre de Lully (Alpha)

REDISCOVERED WORK
Gomes: Lo schiavo (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari)
Heise: Drot og marsk (Royal Danish Opera)
Lully: Isis (Les Talens Lyriques)
Magnard: Guercoeur (Theater Osnabrück)
Moniuszko: Paria (Poznań Opera House)
Paer: Agnese (Teatro Regio di Torino)
Sacrati: La finta pazza (Opéra de Dijon)
Storace: Gli sposi malcontenti (Bampton Classical Opera)

WORLD PREMIERE
Raquel García-Tomás: Je suis narcissiste (Teatro Real)
Detlev Glanert: Oceane (Deutsche Oper)
Elena Kats-Chernin: Whiteley (Opera Australia)
Stuart MacRae: Anthropocene (Scottish Opera)
Akira Nishimura: Asters (New National Theatre Tokyo)
Ellen Reid: p r i s m (Beth Morrison Projects)
Anno Schreier: Schade, dass sie eine Hure war (Deutsche Oper am Rhein)
Philip Venables: Denis & Katya (Opera Philadelphia)

YOUNG SINGER
Xabier Anduaga
Lena Belkina
Vasilisa Berzhanskaya
Lidia Fridman
Teresa Iervolino
Konu Kim
Roberta Mantegna
Zuzana Marková
Chrystal E Williams
Adela Zaharia

OPERA MAGAZINE READERS’ AWARD
Ildar Abdrazakov
Cecilia Bartoli
Jamie Barton
Elīna Garanča
Jonas Kaufmann
Karita Mattila
Anna Netrebko
Erwin Schrott
Michael Spyres
Bryn Terfel