Götz Friedrich Prize awarding

The Götz Friedrich Prize for the 25/26 season goes to Giulia Giammona for her production of Paul Hindemith's Cardillac at the Staatstheater Meiningen and Elena Maria Artisi for Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Altenburg Gera Theatre. In view of two equally convincing productions, the jury decided for the first time this year to select two female prize winners. The awards ceremony will take place on November 19, 2026 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. For over twenty-five years, the Götz Friedrich Prize has been one of the most important institutions for promoting outstanding talents in the field of musical theatre direction — prize winners such as Stefan Herheim, Eva-Maria Höckmayr, Elisabeth Stöppler and Benedikt von Peter are named here as representatives. After the Götz Friedrich Prize has now been hosted by the German-Language Opera Conference, it has returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the main place of activity of its dedicatee, since the 22/23 season. Members of the jury, whose vote was unanimous, include Julia Spinola (Tiroler Landestheater), Dorothea Hartmann (Staatstheater Wiesbaden), Beate Breidenbach (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Wolfgang Nägele (Theater Bielefeld) and Jörg Königsdorf (Deutsche Oper Berlin until the end of 25/26). The Götz Friedrich Prize is financially supported by the Sponsors' Association of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. German-Italian director Giulia Giammona received her musical education as a young student at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin and studied directing at the Thomas Bernhard Institute at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Her first directorial works include Vanitas by Salvatore Sciarrino and Match by Mauricio Kagel, which were created at the Bavarian State Opera, where she worked as a director. She has been working regularly at the Salzburg Festival since 2022. There she initially led the opera camp with a children's version of Mozart's The Magic Flute and staged in the following...

Giulia Giammona and Elena Maria Artisi receive the Götz Friedrich Prize 2026