Simon Keenlyside to be honored at OPERA NEWS Awards

Simon Keenlyside (Photographed by Johannes Ifkovits)

OPERA NEWS has announced the honorees for the 2012 OPERA NEWS Awards, paying tribute to five superb artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: baritone Simon Keenlyside, sopranos Mirella Freni and Dawn Upshaw, countertenor David Daniels, and bass-baritone Eric Owens.

The eighth annual OPERA NEWS Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 21 at The Plaza in New York City. All the winners — and a host of the city’s cultural, civic, and social luminaries — will be present at the gala awards dinner, which will feature celebrity presenters speaking about the awardees and introducing video performance clips.

The official announcement of this year’s honorees appears in the September 2012 issue of OPERA NEWS, which was released on August 6 with tenor Piotr Beczala on the cover.

Simon Keenleyside (Prospero) and Christopher Lemmings (Caliban) in a scene from Act 1 of 

'The Tempest' recorded at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden:

For the third consecutive season, the OPERA NEWS Awards will include a special sweepstakes that will give a lucky winner round-trip air transportation for two to New York, provided by American Airlines, as well as a two-night stay at Trump International Hotel and Tower and VIP tickets to the OPERA NEWS Awards. No purchase is necessary to enter the sweepstakes; details are available at www.operanews.com/onawards and in the September issue.

“Simon Keenlyside seems incapable of making a false move onstage," said Features Editor Brian Kellow, "Not only does he have one of the most expressive baritone voices I've ever heard, he always seems to be completely in the moment dramatically. His work is never flashy, but it has an inner fire that few performers can match.”

Keenlyside opens at The Met on October 23 in Thomas Ades' "The Tempest." Click HERE to read our post or HERE to purchase tickets.