The Brno National Theatre (NdB) has won two awards at the prestigious International Opera Awards 2025, often referred to as the “Opera Oscars”. NdB won the award for Best Festival, for the 2024 Janáček Brno Festival, and for Best New Production for Leoš Janáček’s opera The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, as announced at a gala ceremony at the Stavros Niarchos Hall in Athens, home of the Greek National Opera.
The Excursions of Mr. Brouček was created as a co-production of Janáček Opera NdB, Teatro Real Madrid, and Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Marko Ivanović. Carsen’s production opened the 9th edition of the Janáček Brno Festival with its gala premiere on 1 November 2024 at the Janáček Theatre, and was subsequently presented at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in March 2025.
Despite strong competition from institutions such as the Paris National Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera, NdB succeeded in reaffirming its position in the top tier of the world’s opera scene. In the Festival category, Janáček Brno saw off other renowned European festivals, including the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Munich Opera Festival, and the Rossini Opera Festival.
The award marks a historic milestone for the Janáček Brno Festival. Not only was it the only Czech festival ever to receive this honour, following its first victory in 2018, but it has now won the award for the second time. It is only the third festival ever to win this accolade more than once, alongside the Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
The International Opera Awards (IOA) are among the most prestigious honours in the world of opera. They were founded in 2012 by British philanthropist Harry Hyman, with the aim of raising awareness of opera, celebrating exceptional achievements, and supporting emerging artists through the Opera Awards Foundation, which provides scholarships to young talents around the world. The awards are presented annually in around twenty categories, covering singers, conductors, directors, opera houses, new productions, festivals, and recordings. Winners are selected by an international jury of critics and experts.
NdB’s success at the International Opera Awards is not an isolated achievement. In 2024, it was nominated in the World Premiere category for Here I am, Orlando, and in 2022 in the New Production category for The Greek Passion (both directed by Jiří Heřman).
Ticket sales have already begun for the 10th anniversary edition of Janáček Brno 2026, which will take place from 13 October to 17 November 2026. It will be the festival’s longest and most extensive edition to date, both in duration and in the number of productions presented. Audiences can look forward to world-class artists including Corinne Winters, Štefan Margita, Kateřina Kněžíková, Adam Plachetka, Bella Adamova, and Julius Drake, internationally acclaimed conductors such as Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Hanus, Tomáš Netopil, Vasily Petrenko, and Christopher Ward, and orchestras and ensembles including the Bamberger Symphoniker, Bayerische Staatsoper, and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien.
The award-winning production of The Excursions of Mr. Brouček will also return to the programme — presented on 7 October 2026 as a festival preview, and again on 15 October 2026 within the festival’s main opera series, featuring Nicky Spence in the title role.
