ENO was last night awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Music Award for Opera and Music Theatre for the creative ambition of its work in 2008. This is the fourth award presented to the Company in the last two months and means ENO has received all the UK opera awards for 2008. This is the first time that one opera company has won all four awards since the creation of the South Bank Show Award for Opera 12 years ago.

In addition to the RPS award ENO has received the South Bank Show Award for its collaboration and work with the Young Vic in spring 2008, the Olivier Award for Best New Production for Partenope and an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement for ENO’s Music Director Edward Gardner. Edward Gardner was also awarded the prestigious RPS Award for Conductor in 2008 for work in 2007.

Commenting on the Awards John Berry, Artistic Director of ENO says:
“Winning every available opera award for our work in 2008 demonstrates ENO’s tremendous creativity and puts a spring into our step as we look forward to many more exciting productions during 2009. Every member of the Company deserves an award for their dedication and hard work, without them none of this would be possible.”

The citation stated that with ‘no fewer than ten new productions during 2008, together with an innovative partnership with the Young Vic, ENO made a collective impact on London opera audiences and re-established the company’s distinctive artistic identity’.

Work in 2008 also included a highly acclaimed production of Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea, directed by Fiona Shaw, a new production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci by Richard Jones (Pagliacci was also nominated for an Olivier Award) and highly acclaimed new productions of Der Rosenkavalier and Lucia di Lammermoor.

The Royal Philharmonic Society is one of the oldest and most eminent music societies in the world. Their awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the UK’s most prestigious for live classical music, and recognise not only the calibre of today’s classical musicians, but also those who push creative boundaries to produce work that excites and engages audiences. A programme dedicated to the RPS Music Awards can be heard on BBC Radio 3 on 13 May at 7pm. www.rpsmusicawards.com