Back to NewsSupport sustainable innovation in opera and dance
Outdated browser
green texture © i
FEDORA Prizes Biennale 2025 - Opera Jury
Details
24 June 2024
FEDORA Prizes
Meet the Jury members of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2025, supported by The Silver Company. Learn more about these industry experts' professional backgrounds, their support for the FEDORA Prizes, and their dedication to fostering innovation in the opera sector.
* Jury members are listed by alphabetical order of last name, and starting with the Jury Chair.
Birgitta Svendén
Jury Chair
Former CEO
Royal Swedish Opera
(Sweden)
“The FEDORA Prizes are more important than ever! The finances in culture are getting more and more restrained and at the same time we need to take risks and have a new repertoire, new stories to be told, new audiences to attract, all in collaboration with emerging artists worldwide.”
Birgitta Svendén is an international opera singer as well as the former CEO and Artistic Director at the Royal Swedish Opera (2009-2022). After her long opera career, she held various positions including as Managing Director of The University College of Opera in Stockholm (2005-2009) and President of Opera Europa (2017-2021). Today she serves as a chair and member of the board for several cultural institutions such as The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, University College of Music, and Theater Confidencen. In 2021 she became Chair of Svensk Scenkonst - The Swedish Performing Arts Association.
© Erwin Olaf i
Pierre Audi
General Director
Festival of Aix-en-Provence
(France)
Pierre Audi has been the General Director at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence since 2018. He studied at the University of Oxford and went on to form the Almeida Theatre and its International Festival of Contemporary Music, serving as its Director until 1989. He then became the Artistic Director of the Dutch National Opera (1988-2018), the Holland Festival (2004-2014), and the Park Avenue Armory (2015). He has received numerous awards and distinctions for his stage direction, including the Lesley Boosey Award, the Dutch Theatre Critics Award, a prize from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, a Silver Medal from the City of Amsterdam, Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands, the Gold Medal of the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, the first Johannes Vermeer Award, the Gold Medal of Honour for Art and Science of the House of Orange-Nassau, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Audi has also been a guest director at prestigious venues such as the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Salzburg Festival, Drottningholm Palace Theatre, the Paris National Opera, the Vienna State Opera (Rigoletto), the Theater an der Wien, the La Monnaie Theatre, the Champs-Elysées Theatre, the Met in New York City, the Ruhrtriennale Festival, and the Royal Theatre in Madrid.
© Kevin Leighton i
Alex Ho
Composer of “UNTOLD”, winner of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2023
(United Kingdom)
"The FEDORA Opera Prize is a beacon for artists and presenters wanting to create and present new, large-scale stage work. It is an incredible opportunity to take risks and find novel, meaningful ways to tell stories."
Alex Ho is a British-Chinese composer based in London. He was an Artist-in-Residence at the national Opera Orchestra of Montpellier and Associate Composer at Oxford International Song Festival (2023-2024) and is currently supported by Glyndebourne Opera’s 3-year ‘Balancing the Score’ residency program. He was the winner of the UK Critics’ Circle Young Artist Award in 2021 for his “compelling and individual” works. His music theatre piece ‘Untold’, co-created with Olivier-nominated choreographer Julia Cheng, won the FEDORA Opera Prize 2023.
© Camilla Winther i
Kasper Holten
CEO
Royal Danish Theatre
(Denmark)
“It is more important than ever for the performing arts in Europe to celebrate and encourage the two things that the FEDORA prizes stand for: collaboration and innovation! And I am proud to play my little part in that.”
Kasper Holten is the current CEO of the Royal Danish Theatre. He has previously worked as Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera (2000-2011), heading the opening of Copenhagen’s new opera house in 2005, and Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London (2011-2017). Kasper has directed more than 85 productions around the world, in renowned houses such as Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, the Bregenz Festival, the German Opera of Berlin, the Royal Opera of Madrid, Teatro Colon (Columbus Theatre), the National Opera of Lyon, Opera Australia, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, NCPA Beijing and most opera houses in the Nordic.
© Saša Zinaja / NFOTO i
Iva Hraste-Sočo
General Manager
Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
(Croatia)
"I strongly believe that FEDORA’s aim to support innovative projects by recognizing their excellence and awarding the best, backed by its philanthropic mission, enriches and empowers the contemporary opera and ballet productions all around Europe."
Iva Hraste-Sočo, PhD, has been the General Manager of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb since September 2022. She graduated in singing from the Academy of Music in Zagreb and simultaneously studied Yugoslav Languages and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, later acquiring her doctoral degree. She has received numerous awards, including the Golden Charter of Hungary, Award Judita for the best music creation at the 67th Split Summer Festival, Rector’s Award, First of May Award, Award Marija Borčić, Award Milka Trnina for her role in “Cosi fan tutte” (W. A. Mozart), first prize at the Yugoslav competition of solo singers in Ljubljana, and was a finalist at the international competition Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy. As one of the youngest soloists in the history of the Opera of the CNT, she performed 27 soprano roles. In addition to her artistic career, she has served as a Cultural Attaché at the Croatian Embassy in Vienna (2005-2009) and worked at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia (2009-2019). She is also a university lecturer at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Academy of Music, the University of Zagreb, and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
© Jan Willem Kaldenbach i
Sophie de Lint
Director
Dutch National Opera
(Netherlands)
"Opera is an art form in permanent movement, looking for new stories and new types of collaborations. The FEDORA Prize plays a key role in supporting the future of opera."
Sophie de Lint has been the Director of the Dutch National Opera (DNO) since September 2018. She pursued violin studies at the Geneva Music Conservatory, completed a degree in Business Administration at Webster University in Geneva and an Executive Master in Arts Administration at the University of Zürich. She has previously worked as an Artistic Coordinator at the Geneva Opera House, Artist Manager for Laurent Delage Artists Management in Vienna, Artistic Director at the Zurich Opera, and was a Board Member of Opera Europa. She has also been recognized with several prestigious awards for her work at DNO, including “Best Opera Company 2023” and “Best World Premiere'' for Manfred Trojahn’s “Eurydice – Die Liebenden, blind” (2022) by the jury of the OPER! AWARDS. Sophie de Lint frequently serves as a jury member for international singing competitions and conducts lectures at the University of Zurich in the Executive Master in Arts Administration programme.
© Elena Bauer i
Alexander Neef
General Director
Paris National Opera
(Germany / France)
"FEDORA’s venture philanthropic approach through the FEDORA Prizes is crucial as it encourages cultural organisations to take measured risks to coproduce new works by emerging artists that have the potential to be part of the future repertoire."
Alexander Neef has been the Director Designate of the Paris National Opera since 2020. He studied Latin Philology and Modern History at the Eberhard Karl University in Tübingen. Neef then held various esteemed positions as Production Manager at the Salzburg Festival, was part of the artistic administration of the RuhrTriennale, served as Casting Director at the Paris National Opera (2004-2008), General Director of the Canadian Opera Company (2008-2021), and Artistic Director at The Santa Fe Opera (2018-2021). He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2018 and was named Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2022.
© Andreas Lander i
Karen Stone
Director
Opera Europa
(United Kingdom / Belgium)
"I believe in the work FEDORA does because it supports the future of European opera and dance, aiming to make these art forms more accessible by encouraging artists to innovate, fostering a diverse audience.”
Karen Stone has been the Director at Opera Europa since January 2023. She has a background in music and Opera, having studied piano and singing at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music and pursued Opera at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome. Throughout her career, she has held significant roles, including Assistant Director at the Freiburg Opera House (1983-1985), Staff Producer at the English National Opera (1985-1987) and at the Royal Opera House (1987-1990), Staff Director at the Bavarian State Opera (1990-1995), Opera Director at Cologne Opera (1995-2000), and General Manager at various theatres including Theater Graz, The Dallas Opera, and Theater Magdeburg.
