Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera

Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Awarded for	Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First awarded	1977
Currently held by	Antonio Pappano for music directing the Royal Opera House (2024)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

This award was first presented in 1977, and covers the breadth of a commingled group of specialties, including individual or combinations of: opera companies, orchestras, conductors, composers, singers, stage directors, theatre directors and libretto translators. It served as the only Olivier Award focused solely on opera until the 1993 introduction of the award for Best New Opera Production.

Winners and nominees

1970s

Year	Recipient	Production
1977
	Glyndebourne Festival Opera	Don Giovanni
	English National Opera	Toussaint
	The Royal Opera	The Ice Break
	English National Opera	Werther
1978
	English National Opera	Enterprising Repertoire
	Colin Davis	The Conduction of The Royal Opera
1979
	The Royal Opera	The Rake's Progress
	The Royal Opera	Die Zauberflote
	English National Opera	Manon
	English National Opera	The Adventures of Mr Brouček

1980s

Year	Recipient	Production
1980
	English National Opera	Così fan tutte
	English National Opera	Julius Caesar
	English National Opera	The Turn of the Screw
	Kent Opera	The Turn of the Screw
1981
	The Royal Opera	Les contes d’Hoffmann
	Welsh National Opera	Die Frau ohne Schatten
	The Royal Opera	Lulu
	The Royal Opera	Samson et Delilah
1982
	English National Opera	Rigoletto
	Kent Opera	Agrippina
	The Royal Opera	Falstaff
	Welsh National Opera	I puritani
1986
	English National Opera	Doktor Faust
	Harrison Birtwistle	The Mask of Orpheus
	Anne Evans	The Ring Cycle
	Kathryn Harries	The Ring Cycle
	Stephanos Lazaridis	Doktor Faust and The Mikado
1987
	English National Opera	Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District
	Della Jones	The Barber of Seville
	The Kirov Opera Orchestra
	Carlos Kleiber	Otello
	Marie McLaughlin	Le Nozze di Figaro
	Eva Randová	Jenůfa
1988
	Leontina Vaduva	Manon
	English National Opera	The Magic Flute
	English National Opera	Billy Budd
	English National Opera	Hansel and Gretel
	The Royal Opera	Madama Butterfly
	Welsh National Opera	Falstaff
1989/90
	Komische Oper Berlin	Orpheus and Eurydice
	The Royal Opera	Un re in ascolto
	English National Opera	Lear
	The Garden Venture	Survival Song
	English National Opera	The Love for Three Oranges

1990s

Year	Recipient	Production
1991
	Mark Elder	Duke Bluebeard's Castle , Macbeth , Pelléas et Méllisande and Wozzeck
	English National Opera	Greek
	Tim Albery	Les Troyens
	English National Opera	Duke Bluebeard's Castle
	The Royal Opera	The Cunning Little Vixen
	Éva Marton	Elektra
1992
	The Royal Opera	Mitridate, re di Ponto
	Harrison Birtwistle	Gawain
	Simon Boccanegra
	English National Opera	Figaro's Wedding
	English National Opera	Peter Grimes
	The Garden Venture	Out of Season and The Dancer Hotoke
1993
	Edward Downes	The Fiery Angel and Stiffelio
	Bernard Haitink	Die Frau ohne Schatten
	Philip Langridge	Death in Venice
	Júlia Várady	Der Fliegende Hollander
1994
	English National Opera Orchestra	Lohengrin and Inquest of Love
	Paul Daniel and Opera North	Gloriana
	Charles Mackerras	Tristan und Isolde
	Ann Murray	Ariodante
1995
	Roberto Alagna	Roméo et Juliette
	Tom Cairns	King Priam
	Music Theatre London	La Traviata
	John Tomlinson	Das Rheingold and Die Walküre
1996
	Bernard Haitink	Siegfried and Götterdämmerung
	Jonathan Miller	Carmen
	Bryn Terfel	Salome
	John Tomlinson	Billy Budd and Siegfried
1997
	Elgar Howarth	Die Soldaten and The Prince of Homburg
	Wolfgang Göbbel	The Midsummer Marriage and Tristan und Isolde
	Karita Mattila	Don Carlos
1998
	Paul Daniel	From the House of the Dead
	Alan Opie	Falstaff
	Nikolaus Leloff, Tobias Moheisel, Bettina J Walker and Mark Henderson	Palestrina
	Francesca Zambello	Paul Bunyan
1999
	Royal Opera House Orchestra	Le Nozze Di Figaro , The Bartered Bride and The Golden Cockerel
	Sandra Ford	The Tales of Hoffmann and Mary Stuart
	René Jacobs	L'Orfeo
	Andrew Shore	Gianni Schicchi and The Elixir of Love

2000s

Year	Recipient	Production
2000
	English National Opera	High Standard of Work
	Kim Begley	Parsifal
	Rosemary Joshua	Semele
	Bryn Terfel	Falstaff
2001
	Mark-Anthony Turnage and Amanda Holden	The Silver Tassie (London Coliseum)
	Gerald Finley	The Silver Tassie
	The Kirov Opera	Season at the Royal Opera House
	Stefanos Lazaridis	The Greek Passion and English National Opera's Italian Season
2002
	Bernard Haitink	Jenůfa and The Queen of Spades (and "musical directorship of a season of great distinction by the Royal Opera")
	English National Opera	From Morning to Midnight , The Rake's Progress , The Rape of Lucretia and War and Peace
	Karita Mattila	Jenůfa and The Queen of Spades
	David Sawer	From Morning to Midnight
2003
	Antonio Pappano	Ariadne auf Naxos and Wozzeck (Royal Opera)
	Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu	La Rondine
	Lisa Saffer	Lulu
2004
	Cristina Gallardo-Domas	Madama Butterfly (title role, Royal Opera)
	Simon Keenlyside	Hamlet and Die Zauberflote
	Bejun Mehta	Orlando
	Felicity Palmer	Elektra and Sweeney Todd
2005
	Thomas Adès and the Royal Opera House	The Tempest
	Ben Heppner	Peter Grimes
	John MacFarlane	Peter Grimes and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
	Royal Opera House Orchestra	Season in London
2006
	Simon Keenlyside	1984 and Billy Budd (at Royal Opera & English National Opera)
	Sarah Connolly	La clemenza di Tito
	David McVicar	La clemenza di Tito
	Anthony Minghella and Carolyn Choa	Madama Butterfly
2007
	Amanda Roocroft	Jenůfa (title role, London Coliseum)
	John Mark Ainsley	Orfeo
	Joyce DiDonato	Hercules
	John Tomlinson	Götterdämmerung
2008
	Natalie Dessay	La Fille Du Regiment (Marie, Royal Opera)
	Gerald Finley	Pelléas et Mélisande
	Angelika Kirchschlager	Pelléas et Mélisande
	David McVicar	The Turn of the Screw and Agrippina
2009
	Edward Gardner	Boris Godunov , Cavalliera Rusticana , Der Rosenkavalier , I pagliacci , Riders to the Sea and Punch and Judy (conductor, English National Opera)
	Patricia Bardon	The Rake's Progress , Partenope and Riders to the Sea
	Ferruccio Furlanetto	Don Carlos
	Christine Rice	The Minotaur and Partenope

2010s

Year	Recipient	Production
2010
	Nina Stemme	Tristan und Isolde (Isolde, Royal Opera House)
	Anja Kampe	Der Fliegende Holländer
	Stuart Skelton	Peter Grimes
	Michael Volle	Lulu and Tristan und Isolde
2011
	Christian Gerhaher	Tannhäuser (Wolfram, Royal Opera House)
	Andrew Shore	The Elixir of Love
	Jonas Kaufmann	Adriana Lecouvreur
2012
	English National Opera	Season in London
	Amanda Holden	Castor et Pollux
	Mark-Anthony Turnage	Anna Nicole and Twice Through the Heart
	Richard Jones	Anna Nicole , Il trittico and The Tales of Hoffmann
2013
	Bryan Hymel	Les Troyens , Robert le diable and Rusalka (performances at the Royal Opera House)
	Edward Gardner	The Flying Dutchman and Billy Budd
	Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera	In the Locked Room and Ghost Patrol
	English National Opera Stage Management
2014
	English Touring Opera	King Priam and Paul Bunyan
	Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez	La donna del lago
	Plácido Domingo	Nabucco
2015
	Richard Jones	Rodelinda , The Girl of the Golden West and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (at the London Coliseum)
	The Chorus	Moses und Aron
	Jonas Kaufmann	Andrea Chénier and Manon Lescaut
	Roundhouse and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse	L'Orfeo and L'Ormindo
2016
	English National Opera Chorus and Orchestra	The Force of Destiny , Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Queen of Spades
	Felicity Palmer	The Queen of Spades
	Antonio Pappano	Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci , Guillaume Tell and Król Roger
	Tamara Wilson	The Force of Destiny
2017
	Mark Wigglesworth	Don Giovanni and Lulu (at the London Coliseum)
	Renée Fleming	Der Rosenkavalier
	Stuart Skelton	Tristan and Isolde
2018
	Joyce DiDonato and Daniela Barcellona	Semiramide (Royal Opera)
	Paul Brown	Iolanthe
	Roderick Williams	The Return of Ulysses
2019
	The Ensemble	Porgy and Bess (London Coliseum)
	David Butt Philip Roderick Williams	War Requiem
	English National Opera Chorus	Paul Bunyan
	Andris Nelsons	Lohengrin

2020s

Year	Nominee	Category	Production
2020
	The Children's Ensemble	Performers	Noye's Fludde
	Martyn Brabbins and James Henshaw	Conductors	The Mask of Orpheus
	The Jette Parker Young Artists	Performers	Berenice , Death in Venice and Phaedra
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic [upper-alpha 1]
2022 [upper-alpha 1]
	Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra	Artistic director and orchestra	Bajazet , Irish National Opera and Royal Opera
	Christine Rice	Performer	4/4
	takis	Set and costume designer	H.M.S. Pinafore
2023
	William Kentridge	Concept & Direction	Sybil
	Sinéad Campbell-Watson	Performer	Tosca by English National Opera
	Antony McDonald	Designer	Alcina by The Royal Opera
2024
	Antonio Pappano	Music Director	The Royal Opera
	Belarus Free Theatre Company	Theatre Company	King Stakh's Wild Hunt
	Marina Abramović	Concept & Design	7 Deaths of Maria Callas

1. Due to late March 2020 ^[1] to late July 2021 ^[2] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022 ^[3]

References

1. Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.
2. McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill . Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
3. Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.

• London Theatre Guide (2008). "The Laurence Olivier Awards: Full List of Winners, 1976-2008" (.PDF). 1976-2008. The Society of London Theatre. p. 20. Retrieved 30 August 2008.

External links

• Official website