Performers and Programme Announced For International Opera Awards 2022 At Teatro Real, Madrid

Opera stars from across the globe will perform works from some of the most beloved operas of all time at the International Opera Awards 2022, as the opera world comes together to celebrate the best of the past season. Taking place this year at Teatro Real in Madrid on Monday 28 November, the first in-person event since 2019, the International Opera Awards 2022 is once again sponsored by Mazars.

American soprano Nadine Sierra joins Spanish tenor and International Opera Award 2021 Young Singer Xabier Anduaga to perform a duet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and British soprano Nardus Williams, currently on tour across the UK in Glyndebourne's production of Le Nozze di Figaro, performs "E Susanna non vien...Dove sono..." from that same opera. Uzbek soprano and 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World finalist Barno Ismatullaeva performs Un bel dì, vedremo from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and Australian soprano Jessica Pratt joins Italian tenor Francesco Demuro in a duet from Bellini's l puritani.

The programme also reflects the Spanish setting this year with popular songs from zarzuelas performed by Peruvian tenor Iván Ayón Rivas and Spanish soprano Serena Saenz. These star soloists will be joined by the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Real, who also perform orchestral highlights from Verdi's Macbeth, Amadeo Vives' Doña Francisquita and Manuel de Falla's La vida breve, conducted by music director José Miguel Pérez Sierra. In addition to performing at the ceremony, Barno Ismatullaeva, Iván Ayón Rivas and Nardus Williams are also shortlisted for the Rising Talent Award.

Previous Opera Awards Foundation bursary recipient and opera director Ella Marchment directs this year's awards ceremony. The full programme and list of performers can be found below, and tickets for the International Opera Awards 2022 can be purchased on the Teatro Real's website.

Harry Hyman, founder of the International Opera Awards, said: "I'm delighted to announce such a star-studded and international list of performers for the International Opera Awards 2022, our first in-person live event since 2019. With an incredible programme of music set in the glorious venue of the Teatro Real, it's going to a night to remember. I'm greatly looking forward to welcoming the performers and nominees to Madrid and to celebrate their successes with them."

In addition to the performances, the winners of the International Opera Awards 2022 will be also revealed in the glittering awards ceremony, hosted by BBC Radio 3's Petroc Trelawny. The shortlisted nominees come from over 30 countries reflecting the true international and collaborative nature of opera and the International Opera Awards. Artists, productions and companies from across Europe and North America are joined by those from Ukraine, South Africa, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Samoa, Chile, Mexico, Australia, Turkey, Lithuania and Russia.

The shortlist was compiled by an impressive international jury of opera critics, administrators and performers from 20 different countries and chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine (the Founding Media Partner of the Awards) and classical music critic of The Daily Telegraph. The winners of all categories, except the Readers' Award, are also decided by the jury. The shortlist of nominees can be found on the International Opera Awards website. In addition to the shortlisted categories, the awards for Leadership, Lifetime Achievement, Opera Company of the Year and Philanthropy will also be revealed on the night.

The Awards, founded by philanthropist Harry Hyman in 2012, aim to raise the profile of opera as an art form, to recognise and reward success in opera and to generate funds to provide bursaries for aspiring operatic talent from around the world. Since 2012 over £400,000 has been raised by the Opera Awards Foundation, going to more than 125 bursary recipients. In the past year, just under £52,000 has been given out in bursaries to opera artists who are emerging onto the professional international opera scene.

In 2020, the Foundation established an Artist Hardship Fund, providing emergency grants to previous bursary recipients facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. In 2021 the Fund re-opened grant applications more broadly to other young and emerging artists affected by the crisis.