For the second year, OPERA America celebrated achievements in digital opera with its Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera, announced in December. Out of about 70 submissions from U.S. and Canadian artists, a panel selected five winning projects that fall into one of four categories: Artistic Creation, Education/Enrichment Material, University/Conservatory Project, and Noteworthy Project. The 2023 winners are below.

The Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera are supported by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

Svadba
Produced by Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Bradley Vernatter, Jessica Johnson Brock, David B. Devan, Anderson Nunnelley, Hannah Shepard
Category: Artistic Creation
Svadba, by Ana Sokolović, is a cinematized a cappella chamber opera that explores themes of transition, telling the story of a young bride preparing for her new life as a married woman.

In Song
Produced by Lumahai Productions, San Francisco Opera, Matthew Shilvock, Elena Park, Gregory Henkel, Nicole Potter, Molly McBride
Category: Education/ Enrichment Materials
In Song, created by San Francisco Opera and Lumahai Productions, is a series of eight intimate video portraits that draw us into distinctive spheres through stories and song.

Operas [in Place]
Produced by Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Cleveland Opera Theater, On Site Opera
Category: University/Conservatory Projects
These nine new micro-operas were commissioned specifically for Baldwin Wallace voice performance students and composed with special attention to the rehearsal and performance parameters of university-mandated COVID-19 protocols.

Jess
Produced by Rebecca Gray, Rachel Gray
Category: Noteworthy Projects
A collaboration between composer/singer Rebecca Gray and visual artist/ writer Rachel Gray, Jess is an adaptation of a graphic novel written by Rachel Gray, and it blends stop-motion animation, drawings, and footage to convey joy, grief, and loss of cognitive and physical function. It was developed as part of Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Program.

Whiteness: Part One
Produced by Paul Pinto, Kameron Neal, CultureHub
Category: Noteworthy Projects
This immersive music video cantata surrounds the viewer in a white void, while a chorus of floating heads muse (in 4-40-part harmony) on privilege, appropriation, and the history (or plague) of “Whiteness” in the U.S.A. Written and performed by Paul Pinto, Whiteness: Part One is part of a series of mixed-media works.