Girl of the Golden Met Awards 2023

Congratulations to all the winners for triumphing in these highly competitive categories and to all the nominees for their extraordinary performances! Thank you to everyone that voted; I hope you enjoyed it!

Best Opera

Dialogues des Carmélites (Marty Sohl/Met Opera)

• WINNER: Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

• Verdi’s Falstaff

• Giordano’s Fedora

• Puts’s The Hours

• Bellini’s Norma

Poulenc's devastating tale of a convent of nuns martyred in the last days of the Reign of Terror starred Ailyn Pérez, Christine Goerke, Sabine Devieilhe, Alice Coote, and Jamie Barton — arguably the 2022-23 season's most stupendous cast (and there have been many). 

Best Soprano Performance

Sondra Radvanovsky in Medea (Marty Sohl/Met Opera)

• Lise Davidsen in Der Rosenkavalier

• Christine Goerke in Lohengrin

• WINNER: Sondra Radvanovsky in Medea

• Nadine Sierra in La Traviata

• Sonya Yoncheva in Fedora

Sondra's thrilling, terrifying performance in the title role of Medea personified the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", and many considered it her finest at the Met yet. Judge for yourselves: her Medea was uploaded to Met Opera on Demand just yesterday. 

Best Tenor Performance

Piotr Beczała in Fedora (Ken Howard/Met Opera)

• WINNER: Piotr Beczała in Fedora

• Allan Clayton in Peter Grimes

• Brian Jagde in Aida

• Matthew Polenzani in Tosca

• Michael Spyres in Idomeneo

Piotr imbued his riveting performance as Loris Ipanov in Fedora with “his usual stylish ardor,” (NYTimes) and after attending, I wrote that “his earnest, passionate singing blew me away". You can watch his performance now on Met Opera on Demand.

Best Mezzo-Soprano/Contralto Performance

Samantha Hankey in Der Rosenkavalier (Ken Howard/Met Opera)

• Alice Coote in Dialogues des Carmélites

• Joyce DiDonato in The Hours

• Ekaterina Gubanova in Norma

• WINNER: Samantha Hankey in Der Rosenkavalier

• Marie-Nicole Lemieux in Falstaff

Samantha's Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier earned the title of “one of the best performances of the year" from the New York Times, which also praised her “mighty yet smooth sound" and “tireless energy and dramatic skill”.

Best Baritone/Bass-baritone/Bass Performance

Quinn Kelsey in Rigoletto (Curtis Brown/Met Opera)

• Ryan Speedo Green in Champion

• WINNER: Quinn Kelsey in Rigoletto

• Kyle Ketelsen in The Hours

• Peter Mattei in Don Giovanni

• Michael Volle in Falstaff

Quinn's Rigoletto this season was acclaimed as “a truly immersive and powerful characterization" (OperaWire) and “the most compelling Rigoletto... in a decade" (id.). You can watch his Rigoletto from the 2021-22 season on Met Opera on Demand.

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