FEDORA - FEDORA Prizes Biennale 2025

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FEDORA Prizes Biennale 2025 - Digital Jury

FEDORA Prizes

Meet the Jury members of the FEDORA Digital Prize 2025, supported by Kearney. Learn more about these industry experts' professional backgrounds, their support for the FEDORA Prizes, and their dedication to fostering innovation and digital transformation in the opera and dance sectors.

*Jury members are listed by alphabetical order of last name, and starting with the Jury Chair.

Peter Maniura
Jury Chair
Director
IMZ International Music & Media Centre Academy
(United Kingdom)

"Encouraging and rewarding creativity and innovation is crucial in challenging times and this is why the FEDORA Prizes Biennale and the FEDORA Digital Prize are needed now more than ever.”

Peter Maniura is an award-winning TV Producer and Director, formerly at the BBC and the EBU, and currently Director at the IMZ - International Music & Media Centre Academy. With over 30 years of experience, he was instrumental in setting up the IMZ Academy ten years ago, where he is also a Digital Media Consultant and Guest Lecturer. At the BBC, he was Creative Director and Curator of the new BBC/Arts Council England digital arts service, ‘The Space,’ promoting digital innovation and creativity in the arts, before becoming the Head of Digital Development for BBC Arts, covering festivals, events, and performances across the art forms.

Max Beckham-Ortner
Secretary General
IMZ International Music & Media Centre
(Austria)

"I’m convinced the FEDORA Prizes Biennale and the FEDORA Digital Prize are much needed platforms and crucial for the industry, as they bring emerging talent to the forefront and drive overall progress."

Max Beckham-Ortner is the current Secretary General at the IMZ - International Music & Media Centre. His experience spans various fields across the lens of project management, with experience as a Project Assistant at Zenith Community Arts Foundation (2017-2018) and EUNIC Austria (2018-2019) and as a Project Manager at the American Austrian Foundation (2019-2021). As Secretary General at the IMZ International Music + Media Centre, he has excelled in building sustainable networks, connecting different industries, and creating valuable business opportunities.

Hannah Conway
Co-founder & Artistic Director
Sound Voice
(United Kingdom)

Composer of “The Sound Voice Project”
Winner of the FEDORA Digital Prize 2023

"As FEDORA recognises, celebrates and platforms exceptional art and artists, they inspire and challenge us all to reflect on who we are and our society."

Hannah Conway is the current Artistic Director and Co-founder of Sound Voice. She was also the Artistic Director of Streetwise Opera, renowned for ground-breaking work with the homeless, and moderated for the European Commission’s flagship cultural conferences. Recognition for her work includes an Ivor Novello Academy Award, Classical: NEXT Innovation Award, and the FEDORA Digital Prize 2023. Her works have encompassed 12 languages, and her music has been broadcast on BBC Television and BBC Radio.

Tina Lorenz
Head of Department Artistic Research & Development "Hertzlab"
ZKM - Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
(Germany)

"With the Digital Prize, FEDORA is affording visibility to an emerging and growing field: that of opera productions that use technology as an integral part of their storytelling. As the cultural sector as a whole transforms with the advent of digitality, it is important to highlight how the genre of musical theatre is enriched by these new possibilities."

Tina Lorenz is a founding member of the Augsburg State Theatre’s Digital Theater, founded in 2020. Since January 2024, they have headed the ZKM Hertzlab, the department for artistic research & development, at ZKM Karlsruhe. Growing up in the Chaos Computer Club, they proceeded to study Theatre Studies and American Literary History in Vienna and Munich. They moved to lecturing in Theatre History at the Academy of Performing Arts Bavaria, working as a dramaturg at the Landestheater Oberpfalz, and finally, consulting for digital communication at the Nuremberg State Theater. They founded and headed the Digital Theater department at the Augsburg State Theatre and the hackspaces Metalab Vienna and Binary Kitchen Regensburg.

Johannes Öhman
CEO & Artistic Director
Dansens Hus
(Sweden)

"FEDORA's philanthropic efforts are pivotal in advancing the creative and innovative landscape of the performing arts. It's truly a privilege and a delight to be involved in the jury process once more."

Johannes Öhman has been the Artistic Director and CEO of Dansens Hus in Stockholm since 2020. Earlier in his career, he was the Artistic Director at Gothenburg Opera Dance Company (2007–2011), at The Royal Swedish Ballet (2011-2017), and at Berlin State Ballet (2018–2020). Following a four-year renovation of the main venue, the Dansens Hus is set to return in 2025, featuring guest performances and new formats like ateliers, youth productions, and studios.

Lilli Paasikivi
Director
Bregenz Festival
(Finland / Austria)

"Opera should not only reflect societal changes, but also lead the change. Opera professionals take an active interest in the possibilities that the immersive technologies open for impactful contemporary storytelling. FEDORA Digital Prize highlights this development."

Lilli Paasikivi will begin her tenure as the director of the Bregenz Festival in October 2024. She was a member of the ensemble of the Finnish National Opera (1998-2013) and has made a significant international career alongside it, appearing as a soloist with many notable orchestras, like the New York, Los Angeles, Vienna, and Berlin Philharmonics and the London Symphony Orchestra. Paasikivi worked as the artistic director of the Finnish National Opera (2013-2023). Along with artistic content planning, special projects launched by Paasikivi include the long-term Opera Beyond project, which investigates the application of new technologies in opera and ballet.

Jay Scheib
Stage Director, Playwright & Artist
MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(United States of America)

"So often, innovations align on the wrong side of social good—it is an honour to collaborate with FEDORA in a time of technological leaps, in the face of so much uncertainty in the world. Light the way."

Jay Scheib is a director, designer, and author of plays, operas, ballets, and hybrid live art performance events. From his use of daring integrations of new and used technologies, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Award and an Obie Award for Direction. Current projects include a new staging of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal featuring the deep integration of augmented reality for the Bayreuth Festival. Scheib also directs the Music and Theater programs at MIT, and his studio develops new works at the intersections of art, science, and technology.