The opera national du rhin in alsace has been voted "opera house of the year" by critics.
In a survey of 50 music journalists by the magazine "opernwelt", the house with venues in strabburg, colmar and mulhausen received the most approval, as the magazine announced on wednesday evening.
The opera house attracted attention "through its joy of discovery, original programs, exemplary repertoire management and creative esprit," the magazine declared. This was the second time after lyon that a french company had won the title.
The salzburg festival’s production of "salome" was chosen as the best performance. Italian romeo castellucci named best director and stage designer of the year in survey. Lithuanian soprano asmik grigorian, who played the lead role in "salome," is "singer of the year.
Almost half of the critics chose grigorian. No male or female singer has received so many votes in almost three decades of critics’ polls, wrote "opernwelt".
The magazine interviews 50 critics from europe and the USA every year. The survey is not representative of all critics, it shows a picture of the mood. The experts can name their favorites without pre-selection, which is why the votes are often distributed among many houses. Seven critics spoke out for the opera national du rhin.
Joana mallwitz, the new head of music at the nurnberg state theater, is named "conductor of the year. The 33-year-old has achieved the feat of "inspiring musicians, audiences and critics in a very short time, including with prokofiev’s rarely performed tolstoy opera "war and peace" and wagner’s "lohengrin," wrote the editor in charge, albrecht thiemann.
Mallwitz beat well-known colleagues such as kirill petrenko and christian thielemann to the prize. Other musicians from germany were also able to convince critics. The bavarian state orchestra is "orchestra of the year" for the eighth time and the stuttgart state opera choir is "choir of the year" for the twelfth time.
Last year, oper frankfurt was named the annual winner. Now the opera is honored in alsace. The club owes its profile largely to "the wealth of ideas, team spirit and cosmopolitanism" of its director, eva kleinitz, who recently died at the age of 47. The dedication of the opera thus also becomes "a tribute to the personality who steered its high flight," it said.