Congratulations to Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee on their win last night at the 2026 OPER! Awards! We were delighted to be in attendance at Theater Regensburg and celebrate ‘Golden Age’ with the Erin, who gave a stunning performance of Lakmé’s “Bell Song”.
From the jury: “The golden age always seems to lie a few decades in the past. Older generations still remember it, younger ones yearn for it. But sometimes, it exists in the present. In those moments, we hear voices that manage to measure up to the all-time greats of the past – voices that can thrill us and make us forget time itself, as well as the centuries that lie between us and the creation of the compositions. Whether that is Italian bel canto or French melodiousness turns out to be as secondary as the plot of the opera in question, because the beauty of the music overwhelms us directly, needing no intermediary. When two performers, highly in demand from New York to Tokyo, come together and complement each other perfectly in their stylistic confidence and vocal technical perfection, the audience finds itself transported to operatic heaven – as is the case with our Album of the Year: Golden Age by Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee.”
The OPER! AWARDS are Germany’s only publicly awarded international opera prize. They are presented annually at a gala event to the world’s best artists and creatives of the international opera scene, working on or behind the stage, chosen across 20 categories by a jury of music journalists.
You can watch last night’s livestream here: https://www.oper-awards.com/en/#livestream
Photo: (c) Sylvain Guillot
