Winners of 2018 Opera Poll announced

You’ve joined us in your thousands and given the WhatsOnStage Opera Poll a record level of participation. Thank you, and congratulations on your excellent taste whoever you voted for.

Wins for Opera North in three categories confirms what we all probably knew: the Leeds-based touring company is on a roll and bucked the trend towards caution and revivals with another year of artistic excitement. Tirelessly led by its brilliant general director Richard Mantle, the secret of ON’s success is not down to extravagance but to the value it places on innovation and daring, and to the links it so painstakingly fosters with its various audiences.

The Royal Opera has enjoyed a good year at the polls too, with one win and three runner-up spots, while Glyndebourne‘s consistency continues with a win and two runners-up* (*counting Lisette Oropesa in the tallies for both companies). These statistics are significant because voting was extremely close in some categories.

Among individual winners it’s heartening to note the triumph of excellence over celebrity with the wins for Allan Clayton and Wallis Giunta, both of whom had stunning achievements in 2017.

Here are the full results. Warmest congratulations to the winners, the runners-up and all the shortlisted candidates.

BEST NEW OPERA PRODUCTION

Winner: LA CENERENTOLA (CINDERELLA) (Opera North/Aletta Collins)

Runner-up: DER ROSENKAVALIER (The Royal Opera/Robert Carsen)

Also shortlisted: Hansel & Gretel (Opera North/Edward Dick), Patience (English Touring Opera/Liam Steel), Sukanya (LPO, The Royal Opera, The Curve/Suba Das), Turandot (Opera North/Annabel Arden).

BEST OPERA REVIVAL

Winner: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (THE MAGIC FLUTE) (The Royal Opera)

Runner-up: The Barber of Seville (English National Opera)

Also shortlisted: From the House of the Dead (Welsh National Opera), Kat'a Kabanova (Opera Holland Park), Khovanshchina (Welsh National Opera), Written On Skin (The Royal Opera).

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN AN OPERATIC ROLE

Winner: ALLAN CLAYTON (Hamlet, Glyndebourne)

Runner-up: JOYCE DiDONATO (Semiramide/The Royal Opera)

Also shortlisted: Rebecca Evans (Der Rosenkavalier, Welsh National Opera and Rodelina, English National Opera), Ermonela Jaho (Madama Butterfly, The Royal Opera), Natalya Romaniw (Jenůfa, Grange Park Opera and Eugene Onegin, Welsh National Opera), Anna Stéphany (La clemenza di Tito, Glyndebourne).

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST IN UK OPERA

Winner: WALLIS GIUNTA (mezzo-soprano: La Cenerentola, L'Enfant et les sortilèges, Trouble in Tahiti, all for Opera North)

Runner-up: LISETTE OROPESA (soprano: Don Pasquale, Glyndebourne and Lucia di Lammermoor, The Royal Opera)

Also shortlisted: Liparit Avetisyan (tenor: L'elisir d'amore, The Royal Opera), Suba Das (director: Sukanya, LPO, The Royal Opera, Curve), Tomáš Hanus (music director of WNO: Der Rosenkavalier, Khovanshchina, From the House of the Dead), Polly Leech (mezzo-soprano: Hansel & Gretel, Pop-Up Opera).

EVENT OF THE YEAR / OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE UK OPERATIC SCENE

Winner: OPERA NORTH for its ‘Little Greats’ season

Runner-up: HAMLET (Glyndebourne)

Also shortlisted: The openings of Grange Park Opera and The Grange Festival, Sir Antonio Pappano conducts five scorching operas, Matthew Rose & Brindley Sherratt – The Great British Bass-Off, Sarah Tynan: Unforgettable x 3.