Pablo Heras-Casado and Calixto Bieito, among the winners with the Opera XXI Awards

The orchestra director Pablo Heras-Casado, the stage director Calixto Bieito and the singers Simón Orfila and Silvia Tro Santafé are some of the eleven winners in the seventh edition of the Opera XXI Awards, the national awards of the Spanish lyric sector. The jury has gathered this morning at the Teatro Real.

The Opera XXI Awards, the most relevant of the Spanish lyric, are granted by the association of the same name, chaired by Isamay Benavente, director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, and composed of 25 theaters, seasons and stable opera festivals, to which they are They add two honorary member theaters.

The fourteen awards granted are:

Best musical direction: Pablo Heras-Casado (‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’.

Best stage address: Calixto Bieito (‘Lear’).

Best singer (male category): Simón Orfila (‘Carmen’, ‘Nabucco’, ‘Aida’, ‘Gal.la Placidia’ and ‘Juan José’).

Best singer (female category): Silvia Tro Santafé (‘Maria Stuarda’).

Best young singer: Jan Prem (‘The Telephone’ and ‘Carmen’).

Best foreign artist, for his special contribution to lyric in Spain during season 2023/2024: Gerald Finley (‘Antony & Cleopatra’, ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’).

Best scene design: Alfons Flores (‘Carmen’).

Best lighting design: Albert Faura (‘La Bella Susona’, ‘La Rosa del Saffron’ and ‘La Verbena de la Paloma’, ‘La Traviata’, and ‘Così Fan Tutte’).

Best costume design: Gabriela Salaverri (‘La Verbena de la Paloma’).

Better Video -Creation Proposal: Joan Fontcuberta (Winterreise ‘).

Best contemporary lyric new proposal: ‘Transit’by Jesús Torres, in the new production of Carles Alfaro.

New lyrical production: ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg‘(‘ The masters singers of Nuremberg ‘).

Better initiative or project that contributes to the dissemination of operatic activity: Escola d’Opera de Sabadell.

Better initiative, interpreter, direction or production of Spanish lyrical repertoire. ‘GAL·LA PLACIDIA‘.

The jury of the awards, which will be delivered at a gala that will be held on June 17, 2025 at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, Fernando Sans Rivière, Pablo Meléndez-Haddad, Javier Pérez Senz, Maricel Chavarría Espuny, Alejandro Martínez Rodríguez, Ana Vega Toscano, Pablo L. Rodríguez, José Luis Jiménez, Gonzalo Alonso, Justo Romero, Victoria Stapells, Richard Martet and Ricardo da Rocha. The president of Opera XXI, Isamay Benavente were also present at the deliberations; the Coordinator of the awards, Miriam Perandones, and the Secretary of the Association, Jorge Culla.