The Ópera XXI Awards crown Gustavo Gimeno, Àlex Ollé, Jorge de León and Sabina Puértolas as one of the best of the 2024-2025 season | Culture | EUROtoday

The Ópera XXI Awards, crucial of the style in Spain, have introduced the winners of “one of the best of the Spanish levels of the 2024-2025 season.” Among the winners, the Musical Direction Award goes to Gustavo Gimeno, for his work directing the opera. Eugenio Onegin (Tchaikovsky); The Stage Direction Award goes to Àlex Ollé, for his work directing Lady Macbeth de Mtsensk (Dmitri Shostakovich) and The troubadour (Verdi). While the tenor Jorge de León obtains the award for Best Singer in the male category for his different interpretations such as the role of Radamés, in Aida (Verdi); that of Calaf in the Turandot (Puccini) and for the lead role in the opera Otello (Verdi). On the other hand, in the female category, soprano Sabina Puértolas wins the Best Singer Award for her performance in the role of Anne Boleyn (Donizetti) and for his interpretation of Violetta in La traviata (Verdi).

The jury, which met this morning at the Teatro Real in Madrid, has evaluated 14 categories from the period between September 1, 2024 and August 31, 2025, covering all areas of lyrical creation and management: from vocal and musical performance to scenic innovation, contemporary production and cultural dissemination. The artists, creatives and projects awarded in the eighth edition of the Ópera XXI will receive their award during a lyrical gala on May 15 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Winners of the Ópera XXI Awards

Best Young Singer Award: He under Manuel Fuentes. For his participation in the double program of Spanish time (Maurice Ravel) y Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini), at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, in April and May 2025.

Award for Best Foreign Artist: Soprano Nadine Sierra, for her special contribution to opera in Spain during the 2024/2025 season, for her interpretation of the role of Violetta in The wayward one (Giuseppe Verdi), at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (February 2025) and at the Teatro Real (June-July 2025); for her role as Amina in The Sleepwalker (Vincenzo Bellini), at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (April-May 2025); and for giving voice to María in the symphonic version of West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein), at the Liceu (July 2025).

Award for Best Scene Design: Alfons Flores. For his work in Lady Macbeth de Mtsensk (Dmitri Shostakovich), at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (September 2024); in Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti), at ABAO Bilbao Opera (October 2024); and in The troubadour (Giuseppe Verdi), at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (December 2024).

Best Lighting Design Award: Felipe Ramos. For his work in The short life (Manuel de Falla) and Green Gables (Jesús Torres), at the Teatro Real (February 2025); and in Iphigenia in Tauride (Christoph Willibald Gluck), at the Teatro de la Maestranza (February 2025).

Best Costume Design Award: Ana Garay. For his work as a costume designer in The triptych (Giacomo Puccini), at ABAO Bilbao Opera (November 2024).

Award for Best Video Creation Proposal: Pedro Chamizo. For his work in Marina (Emilio Arrieta), at the Teatro de la Zarzuela (October 2024); and in The triptych (Giacomo Puccini), at ABAO Bilbao Opera (November-December 2024).

Award for the Best New Contemporary Lyrical Creation Proposal: Benjamin in Portbou (Antoni Ros-Marbà), which could be seen at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (July 2025).

Award for the Best Initiative or Project for the Dissemination of Lyrics: Oviedo Opera. Resident Children’s Company Federica –directed by Maite García Heres. A musical and performing project made up of girls and boys from approximately 6 to 15 years old that combines rigorous artistic training with the staging of adaptations of classic operas.

Award for Best New Production: The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Nikolái Rimski-Kórsakov), at the Teatro Real (April-May 2025), with stage direction and set design by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Spanish Lyrical Heritage Award for Best Initiative, Performer, Direction or Production of Spanish Lyrical Repertoire: The gypsy for love (Manuel García), rescued by the Ópera Estudio de Málaga, which opened the Lyric Season of the Teatro Cervantes in September 2024.

Honorary awards

On the way to the gala of these awards, all that remains is to know the three honorary awards that will be awarded in March by the Assembly of members of the Ópera XXI Association: the Professional Career Award, the honorary award for the Cultural Institution and the recognition for the Best Patronage Initiative. In addition, the Best New Latin American Production Award will be announced, in collaboration with Ópera Latinoamérica OLA—a network made up of more than 50 organizations, companies, festivals and theaters on the American continent.

The jury

The jury was made up of Gonzalo Alonso, Maricel Chavarría Espuny, José Luis Jiménez, Alejandro Martínez Rodríguez, Pablo Meléndez-Haddad, Javier Pérez Senz, Pablo L. Rodríguez —critic of the style in EL PAÍS—, Justo Romero, Victoria Stapells, Fernando Sans Rivière and Ana Vega Toscano, all of them prestigious critics and music journalists who work inside and outdoors our nation. Also current on the deliberations have been the president of Ópera XXI, Isamay Benavente; the coordinator of the awards, Esperanza Soroa, and Santi Pons-Quintana, from Amics de s´òpera de Maó, performing as secretary.