The Royal Swedish Opera Chorus has posthumously bestowed the Choir Prize to Michael Cavanagh.

The award was announced during the company’s performance of “Sweeney Todd” on Dec. 13, 2024.

“For his extraordinary ability to recognize and use the expressive capacity of the individual chorus member in directing large chorus scenes, in for example Nixon in China and Sweeney Todd, Michael Cavanagh has been selected as the 2023 recipient of The Royal Swedish Opera Chorus Award. Michael Cavanagh had an always clever and sometimes unconventional approach to working with our chorus using it as a cogwheel driving the opera production forward both during and in-between scenes,  and his positive outlook would spread to everyone both on and off stage,” said an official statement issued by the organization.

Cavanagh passed away earlier this year at age 62 from leptomeningeal cancer. He directed over 150 operas at 30 companies worldwide, including the San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Minnesota Opera, Royal Opera House, Opera Philadelphia, and Opéra de Montréal.