Kick-off: 21 November 2018
Submission Deadline: 19 August 2019
Semifinal: 09 – 11 Januar 2020
Competition Final: 27 -28 Juni 2020
From 2018 to 2020, for the ninth time the International Competition for Stage Direction and Design in Musical Theatre will be held in Graz, Austria. The call for the RING AWARD 20 has opened on 21 November 2018 with the announcement of the competition opera.
The RING AWARD competition offers young artists – who form production teams consisting of a stage director and a stage designer each – an opportunity to subject themselves to the verdict of acknowledged international experts. The main prize is the prestigious “RING AWARD”. Further prizes, such as an Audience Prize and cash prizes are offered and several theatres and opera houses will sponsor special prizes in the form of commissions for stage productions (direction and design).
To reflect its cutting-edge perspective in view of recent developments in staging musical theatre, the RING AWARD invites challenging the concept of a unified work of art and introducing scenic and musical experimentation. Young artists are given the chance to find international resonance for their views of what contemporary musical theatre should be like.
Mozarts seminal work “Don Giovanni” is often considered his best work. The “dramma giocoso” combines comedy and tragedy, murder ballad and swashbuckler play, and seems closely tied to its period of origin but still timeless. With this opera, Mozart created an unrivalled monument for the motif of Don Juan. The opera with its Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte was first performed in Prague on 29 October 1787.
The RING AWARD 20 is open to various directorial approaches and scenic and musical experimentation (montage, cuts, external material). However, some regulations need to be observed: material from the original musical score must remain in the adapted version; the adaption needs to be performable on piano; generally the character of the competition opera must remain recognizable.
Teams of singers at the Final
At the final, the teams have 8 days to rehearse the given part of the competition opera with their singers. Each competition team will get an alloted team of singers. One team will be from Oper Graz again. The two other teams are for the first time sent from Theater an der Wien and Deutschen Oper Berlin.
OLE WIGGO BANG, Intendant, Wermland Opera, Karlstad
VALÉRIE CHEVALIER, Directrice Générale, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
PETER DE CALUWE, Directeur Général, La Monnaie / De Munt, Bruxelles
SOPHIE DE LINT, Intendantin, De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam
SERGE DORNY, Directeur Général, Opéra de Lyon, design. Intendant Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich
HERIBERT GERMESHAUSEN, Intendant, Oper Dortmund
ROLAND GEYER, Intendant, Theater an der Wien
PER BOYE HANSEN, design. Operndirektor, Nationaltheater Prague
STEFAN HERHEIM, Stage Director, Oslo / Berlin, design. Intendant Theater an der Wien
EVA KLEINITZ, Generalintendantin, Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg
IRIS LAUFENBERG, Intendantin, Schauspielhaus Graz, Chair
NORA SCHMID, Intendantin, Oper Graz, Chair
DIETMAR SCHWARZ, Intendant, Deutsche Oper Berlin
PETER SPUHLER, Generalintendant, Staatstheater Karlsruhe
KATRIN LEA TAG, Stage and Costume Designer, Vienna
PETER THEILER, Intendant, Semperoper Dresden
ALBRECHT THIEMANN, „Opernwelt“
JAN VANDENHOUWE, design. Intendant, Opera Vlaanderen, Antwerp
REINHARD VON DER THANNEN, Stage and Costume Designer, Hamburg
BENEDIKT VON PETER, Intendant and Stage Director, Luzerner Theater, design. Intendant, Theater Basel
Photos of the RING AWARD 20 Kick-off Press Conference below (c) Nicolas Galani.
Sujet: Photo (c) Nicolas Galani, Design (c) Max Werschitz
