8th European Opera-directing Prize 2015
MADRID. Two directors won the 8th European Opera Directing Prize in 2015. German-Swiss Anna Drescher from Stuttgart, Niki Ellinidou from Greece and their respective teams, have each been awarded the first prize in the competition. No other prizes were awarded.
The directors convinced the jury, chaired by general manager of the Baden State Theatre Karlsruhe Peter Spuhler, with their respective concepts of the chamber opera "White Rose", by Udo Zimmermann, and with their dedicated work samples. "The two candidates have pursued very different directing approaches, which both do justice to the oeuvre in their own way," said Spuhler. A decision in favour of one or the other approach wouldn’t have done justice to the performance.
Therefore, the chairman of Camerata Nuvoa in Wiesbaden, Armin Kretschmar, and the director of Opera Europa in Brussels, Nicholas Payne, who organise the European Opera-directing Prize, accepted the jury’s recommendation and awarded two first prizes.
The awards were presented by the patron of the competition, State Minister Axel Wintermeyer, at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
The two prize recipients will receive 15,000 euros each. Niki Ellinidou and her designer Nefeli Myrtidi will bring their concept to performance at the Cologne Opera in October 2016, Anna Drescher, the German-Lebanese decorator Hudda Chukri, and the German dramaturge Maximilian Hagemeyer, will realise their concept at the Theater Biel Solothurn. The premiere is on 4th November 2016.
160 candidates from
26 nations had applied for the 8th European Opera-directing Prize 2015. After the pre-selection, four teams were invited to the final from 6 to 8 May in Madrid.
In the final round
the participants had to elaborate one scene from their concept to the chamber opera work "White Rose" on the stage at the Teatro Real Madrid, in front of a prominent director Jury.
The jury of the 8th European Opera
Directing Prize was composed of:
Peter Spuhler
(Chairman of the Jury) Director General Staatstheater Karlsruhe
Dr. Birgit Meyer Intendant Cologne
Opera
Dieter Kaegi Directeur Général Theater Biel Solothurn
Detlef Brandenburg Chief Editor "Die deutsche Bühne"
David B. Devan General Director Opera Philadelphia
