For the seventh time, Oper Frankfurt has been named "Opera House of the Year" in this year's survey by the leading trade journal "Opernwelt" - six of which have been under the directorship of Bernd Loebe. With its sure instinct for a dramaturgically plausible, innovative and varied repertoire, as well as the choice of the right directors for the most diverse works, the house has thus once again proven that opera can be attractive even in places where one would not necessarily expect it at first glance.
One example is the "Rediscovery of the Year". Rudi Stephan's forgotten opera "Die ersten Menschen" from 1914, which had its posthumous premiere in Frankfurt in 1920 and now, 103 years later, found its way onto the stage of Oper Frankfurt at the same venue under the musical direction of outgoing general music director Sebastian Weigle and directed by Tobias Kratzer. One of the two stage works voted "World Premiere of the Year" with the same number of voices also came out on the Main: Vito Žuraj's condensed, highly poetic music theater "Blühen" to a libretto by Händl Klaus. The Slovenian composer has to share this title with Charles Tournemire, whose opera "La Légende de Tristan" was performed for the first time at the Theater Ulm almost 100 years after it was written. There was unanimity, however, in the election of the "Choir of the Year". As in the previous year, this went to the choir of the Frankfurt Opera, which under its choir director Tilman Michael was honored in particular for its outstanding performances in George Frideric Handel's "Hercules" and Wagner's "Nuremberg Mastersingers."
"Our Frankfurt Opera has once again and for the seventh time become 'Opera House of the Year'. The opera as a series champion under these conditions is a brilliant achievement of the opera director Bernd Loebe and the entire staff. The title stands for the excellent work of all employees and makes it clear that it is now really time to make a location decision quickly. Our opera of world renown has more than earned this," says Mayor Mike Josef.
"To be continuously creative and innovative, that distinguishes the work of the Frankfurt Opera and receives wide professional recognition. Once again and for the seventh time, the house was awarded the title of 'Opera House of the Year'. This testifies to an untiring desire for new things and a willingness to take exciting and unforeseen paths. The fact that the opera was able to take the top spot in four categories is proof of the high artistic quality that artistic director Bernd Loebe and his team work on every day. On behalf of the City of Frankfurt, I would like to thank Bernd Loebe and all those involved. With its outstanding quality, Oper Frankfurt contributes significantly to the fame of our city. My heartiest congratulations on this title! This award once again demonstrates the status our opera enjoys throughout Germany and the quality that is offered in Frankfurt. At the same time, it should be a reminder to us: to make a decision quickly for the future of the opera and the theater in order to ensure this level of quality in the future as well. It is only thanks to the perseverance and creativity of the directors and staff that this award-worthy quality could be maintained despite adverse conditions," says Ina Hartwig, head of the Department of Culture.
Loebe, director and CEO of Oper Frankfurt, says: "Oper Frankfurt may call itself 'Opera House of the Year' for the seventh time, winning in no less than four categories. This is by no means a foregone conclusion; rather, it is the result of hard, persistent work coupled with professional and artistic excellence. I would like to thank all the staff for their tireless efforts and am delighted about these fantastic awards from the trade press this year. Choral director Tilman Michael and his collective have once again proven that musical theater is much more than 'just' singing beautifully. In addition, there are not many opera houses that commission world premieres with the same regularity; for us, reinventing and enriching the opera literature is an integral part - this time, composer Vito Žuraj was particularly convincing with Blühen. And last but not least, I am very pleased that Sebastian Weigle did not regret his decision to conduct the completely unknown opera Die ersten Menschen (The First People) at his farewell concert, but on the contrary, the venture was rewarded with the title of 'Rediscovery of the Year'. All this characterizes our work: artistic and technical excellence, fun with the new, daring and a certain willingness to take risks. In this context, these awards are an important signal to politicians to promptly determine the future location of the Städtische Bühnen and to continue to support the opera in the future, so that Frankfurt can remain a center for high-quality musical theater."
With Dmitri Tcherniakov, a Russian director was once again honored in the category "Director of the Year" after Kirill Serebrennikov in 2022. Tcherniakov received the award for his ambitious reading of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" at the Berlin State Opera and above all for his profound, lucid and politically sensitive penetration of Sergei Prokofiev's ambivalent Tolstoy setting of "War and Peace" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, which was also named "Performance of the Year." The Isar is also home to the serial winner in the "Orchestra of the Year" category, the Bavarian State Orchestra, which celebrates its 500th anniversary in 2023. Kirill Petrenko, the former principal conductor of this orchestra, who now holds the same position at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic, was named "Conductor of the Year. The decisive factor was Petrenko's sensitive and highly differentiated conducting of Richard Strauss' "Frau ohne Schatten" at the Baden-Baden Festival. There were clear votes in the categories "Singer of the Year" and "Young Singer of the Year". Michael Volle was chosen for his brilliant role portraits as Wotan in Wagner's "Ring" and as Hans Sachs in the Viennese "Meistersinger," Konstantin Krimmel for his outstanding performances in the operas of Mozart, Hosokawa and Haas as well as for the new recording of Schubert's song cycle "Die schöne Müllerin." The title of "CD of the Year" is shared by the recording of Dessau's Lanzelot (audite) and Handel's Theodora; there were also two winners in the "Book of the Year" category with Jörn Peter Hiekel's volume "Helmut Lachenmann and His Time" and Barrie Kosky's "Hello, Curtain Up!". The critics deemed the eight-hour performance of Olivier Messiaen's "St. Françoise d'Assise" at Stuttgart Opera, directed by Anna-Sophia Mahler, the "most unusual opera experience of the year." "Set Designer of the Year" was Michael Levine for "Turandot" in Amsterdam and "Madama Butterfly" in Bregenz, and "Costume Designer of the Year" was Giuseppe Palella for "Alessandro nell'Indie" at the Bayreuth Baroque Festival.
