Not in New York, London, or Milan did the opera world gather for the Oper! Awards; instead Regensburg hosted the ceremony. The city’s theater was crowned Best Opera House of the Year. For a lifetime of work, the stage and costume designer Jürgen Rose was honored on Monday evening. The openly gay opera and theater director Barrie Kosky won in the category Best Director.
The Regensburg ensemble led the gala audience with bravura performances, proving that the prize’s relevance extends even to what some might call the provincial. The importance of a stage is not measured by its square meters, said jury chair Ulrich Ruhnke, who praised the house for artistic excellence and programmatic fearlessness.
The theater is known, among other things, for its innovative seasons, which often feature lesser-known works rather than the classics. For this, Ruhnke commended the Intendant Sebastian Ritschel and his team: “Here we encounter a stance that is defined by one thing above all: courage over caution. On this stage you take risks with music theater in its broadest reach, and you do so with high-caliber success as a bold wager.”
The prize is awarded by the trade magazine Opera!. Another honoree was the Berlin State Orchestra with its General Music Director Christian Thielemann named Best Orchestra. The award for Best Production went to opera star Cecilia Bartoli, head of the Salzburg Pentecost Festival, for Hotel Metamorphosis. Katharina Wagner, Intendant of the Bayreuth Festival, accepted on behalf of the ailing soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä the award for Best Female Singer. Värelä made her Bayreuth debut in 2025. The Best Male Singer prize went to tenor Jonathan Tetelman.
For light-hearted moments at the end of the gala, honorary award recipient Jürgen Rose—who has worked on stages around the world in acting, opera, and ballet, including Munich, Milan, Paris, Bayreuth, and New York—shared anecdotes. He spoke of numerous inquiries from all corners of the globe that still reach him regularly. And he surprised the audience when he said, “Tomorrow morning I’m heading to Dresden,” noting that at 1:30 p.m. there is a fitting at the Semperoper. It isn’t easy to stop, the 88-year-old said.
Regensburg’s theater can look forward to another accolade in the spring: on May 8, the Ministry of Culture announced that the house will be designated a State Theater.
