2018 Opera News Awards honor William Christie

Every year, Opera News honors five well-deserving artists at the Opera News Awards for the impact they have had on the opera world. Opera News’ 13th annual black-tie gala on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, celebrated the careers of four singers as well as of conductor William Christie. Opera News has been published by The Metropolitan Opera Guild since 1936; it has the largest circulation of all classical music magazines in the United States and is the only North American publication that covers opera internationally.

Online Editor Adam Wasserman observes: "Conductor William Christie's leadership of his superlative ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, has done more than merely revivify music of the French Baroque. Christie's interpretive efforts have had a transformative effect on the very idea of authenticity in opera. To hear Christie conduct the music of Rameau, Lully, Charpentier, Handel or Mozart, is to understand anew that, while opera may be indebted to the past, it is an art that can only exist in the present moment."

William Christie was honored as well as Sonya Yoncheva he discovered through Le Jardin des Voix, the Baroque Academy for young singers launched by Les Arts Florissants in 2002 and codorected by the british tenor Paul Agnew.