Overview

• Opernwelt’s annual poll of 39 critics announced this year’s winners on 26 September 2025.
• Opernhaus Zürich was praised for a dramaturgically coherent, inventive, and varied season with distinctive directorial signatures.
• Matthias Schulz takes over leadership at the house for the new season, succeeding Andreas Homoki.
• Eleonora Buratto was selected Singer of the Year for Madama Butterfly in Baden-Baden, and Bogdan Volkov received the male title for Der Idiot at the 2024 Salzburg Festival, which was also named Performance of the Year.
• Kirill Petrenko earned Conductor of the Year for the eighth time, Tobias Kratzer was Director of the Year for his Rheingold in Munich and now leads Hamburg State Opera, and ensemble honors went to Komische Oper Berlin’s chorus with a three-way orchestral tie.