Leeds-based Opera North is celebrating beating off stiff competition to win the Opera category at this week’s 2025 Sky Arts Awards with its recent concert staging of Verdi’s rarely-performed opera, Simon Boccanegra.

Commenting on the production, the Sky Arts judging panel said: “Its central themes of peace and unity resonated powerfully with contemporary audiences, making 19th-century opera feel urgently relevant. This production exemplifies artistic excellence and bold innovation in opera.”

Directed by PJ Harris, designed by Anna Reid and with Opera North’s Principal Guest Conductor Antony Hermus working with an international cast, the production opened in April as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, before touring to Nottingham, Gateshead, Liverpool and Hull, with a final date at London’s Southbank Centre.

A truly immersive experience for the audience, it saw the Chorus of Opera North taking to the balconies and lining the stalls to deliver the celebrated Council Chamber scene in thrilling ‘surround sound’. As with previous concert stagings, the Orchestra of Opera North was also placed centre-stage adding to the visual and aural spectacle.

The award was presented at a star-studded ceremony in London by soprano Soraya Mafi whose first interaction with opera was, coincidentally, with Opera North. In her acceptance speech, Laura Canning, General Director, Opera North celebrated the enduring power of the art-form: “The breadth of the nominees tonight shows you the health and strength of opera in the UK today. Hearing Soraya sing, I think, lets us know that we’re in great hands for the future. The first 400 years was pretty great, but the next 400 is going to be even better!”

The company is hoping for further success later in the year, with Simon Boccanegra also having been shortlisted for the Achievement in Opera Award at the 2025 UK Theatre Awards, and Kurt Weill’s Love Life nominated in the new Musical Theatre category of the prestigious International Opera Awards.  Top of Form