On 28 and 29 June 2025, Graz became once again the stage for tomorrow’s opera. At the Grand Finale of the RING AWARD 25, three emerging international directing teams brought their visions of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Acts II & III) to the stage of Schauspielhaus Graz. Within just 24 hours, the three production concepts presented entirely different and artistically distinctive perspectives on the Orpheus myth.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the 10th International Competition for Directing, Set and Costume Design in Music Theatre once again showcases the diversity and innovative strength of young artists. Its aim is to provide a professional and practice-oriented platform for emerging, yet not fully established, directors, set and costume designers by awarding outstanding achievements in their work.
The final weekend proved to be a powerful artistic highlight. Jury and audiences alike were deeply impressed by the creativity, expressiveness, and relevance of the performances. The international jury, consisting of 15 distinguished artistic directors and experts in music theatre, faced the inspiring challenge of selecting a winner.
After intensive deliberations, the international jury chose the following team as the winner of the RING AWARD 25, recognising their clear artistic signature and a compelling overall concept:
The main prize RING AWARD includes an invitation to direct a production at one of the venues of Oper Graz and is endowed with EUR 2,500.
From the jury statement “Levels of everyday life, dreams, dementia, and loneliness are intertwined in a touching way. Elements of clarity meet moments of the unimaginable and of dreams. Humor stands alongside tragedy, myth alongside everyday life, leading to an engaging exploration of very current issues.”
In addition to the main prize, two more awards were conferred:
Team Maria Chagina (RUS) / Anna Agafonova (ISR) / Sören Sarbeck (DEU)
L’Orfeo. The Myth Next Door
Team Franciska Éry (HUN) / Peter Butler (GBR) / Mathieu Cabanes (FRA)
Orfeo – Recording In Session
Additionally, each of the three finalist teams received a recognition fee of EUR 7,000.
Two artistic directors from the jury took the outstanding achievements of the finalist teams as an opportunity to offer a total of four stage productions including set design:
Jan Henric Bogen, General Artistic Director Konzert und Theater St. Gallen, to:
Max Nattkämper, semifinalist of the RING AWARD 25
Team Maria Chagina / Anna Agafonova / Sören Sarbeck
Valérie Chevalier, Directrice Générale Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, to:
Team Franciska Éry (HUN) / Peter Butler (GBR) / Mathieu Cabanes (FRA)
Team Giorgio Pesenti (ITA) / Giulia Bruschi (ITA) / Riccardo Mainetti (ITA) / Elena Patacchini (ITA) / Matteo Castiglioni (ITA)
15 renowned international artistic directors and music theatre experts:
Jossi Wieler, Stage Director, Head of Jury
Jan Henric Bogen, General Artistic Director Konzert und Theater St. Gallen
Renata Borowska-Juszczyńska, General Manager Teatr Wielki Poznan
Valérie Chevalier, Directrice Générale Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
Klaus Grünberg, Set and Light Designer
Tatjana Gürbaca, Stage Director
Marlene Hahn, Head of Dramaturgy Oper Leipzig
Stefan Herheim, Stage Director, Intendant Theater an der Wien
Marko Hribernik, Conductor, Director General of Opera SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana
Ulrich Lenz, Dramaturg, Intendant Oper Graz
Andrea Moses, Stage Director, Artistic Director of Opera Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar
Annette Murschetz, Set Designer, Professor at University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Elisabeth Sobotka, Intendant Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Andrea Vilter, Dramaturg, Intendant Schauspielhaus Graz
Sibylle Wallum, Costume Designer
Team Maria Chagina (RUS) / Anna Agafonova (ISR) / Sören Sarbeck (DEU)
Orpheus and Eurydice have spent a long life together and have grown old side-by-side. Now Eurydice has died. Orpheus finds himself alone in his apartment, isolating himself from his environment. Only his grown-up son Apollo tries to maintain contact with the increasingly inaccessible man.
An old melody begins to haunt Orpheus’s mind, taking him back to his youth. Long-deceased friends appear and celebrate the wedding of Eurydice and Orpheus. But the veil of aging covers all; the celebration turns into a funeral procession. Orpheus’s apartment transforms into the underworld, becoming a hell for him. The narrow spaces expand into an endless landscape in which the frail man finds himself helpless. The river Styx begins to flood the apartment. On its shore a lost diver sits, whom the ship’s crew may well have presumed dead. Searching for an exit, Orpheus sings out into the void, but only the echo responds. Will a ship come to ferry him across the waters?
Orpheus as the eternal myth of aging—within the 60 square meters of the apartment next door and in the inner infinity of loneliness.
Director: Maria Chagina
Set and costume design: Anna Agafonova
Dramaturgy: Sören Sarbeck
Maria Chagina and Sören Sarbeck have been working together since their studies at the August Everding Theatre Academy in Munich, where they developed the opera Invitation to a Beheading together. For L’Orfeo, the stage and costume designer Anna Agafonova joins their team. Together they are looking for a music theatre that draws on everyday experiences and is located at the transition between drama and opera.
Anna Agafonova graduated from the Moscow Art Theatre School and has worked in various theatres in Russia, including the Gogol Centre and the Moscow Youth Theatre. She currently lives and works in Israel.
After graduating from the Moscow GITIS, Maria Chagina staged Orff’s The Moon in Yakutsk and an evening about Carola Neher for the human rights organisation Memorial in Moscow before emigrating to Germany. She is a fellow of the Akademie Musiktheater heute.
Dramaturg and librettist Sören Sarbeck is currently engaged at Theater Lübeck after a traineeship at Bayerische Staatsoper.
Musical Director & Piano: Ihor Kolomiiets
Orfeo: Peter Grdadolnik, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Messagiera: Justina Vaitkutė, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Pastore: Kevin King, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Speranza: Corina Koller, Oper Graz
Caronte: Camilo Olguín, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Old Orfeo: Gerhard Balluch
Extras from Oper Graz:
Alina Fedorova, Antonija Ferencina, Gernot Gölles, Gerrit Langer, Klara Prexl, Martin Stoff
Voice of Apollo: Luca Skupin
Stage Manager: Otto Kolleritsch
Assistant Director: Jasmin Karami
Team Franciska Éry (HUN) / Peter Butler (GBR) / Mathieu Cabanes (FRA)
Tony is a superstar singer. He is married to Sarah, who is also a singer. They work together and tour the world, but their marriage is in crisis.
We meet them at a recording session where they are booked together to sing the parts of Orfeo and Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. La Musica, the sound engineer, is running the session. But Tony is wobbly – he self-medicates to keep his anxiety at bay, he is unfaithful to his wife to feel desired, and he is terrified of being overshadowed by Sarah. As the session progresses, he finds it harder to distinguish his ‘trip’ from reality, finding himself in his own personal underworld, where he has to face his insecurities and save his marriage.
We believe that the archetype of the male hero is in crisis. Gone are the days where we can tell the story of a man singing about how much he loves his wife without ever hearing from the woman herself; where we can follow the hero’s journey without understanding the person he is trying to save. In Monteverdi’s opera, Euridice has 4 lines in total. Where is she in this opera? In our recording studio we invite our audience to ask the question: who gets to have a voice?
Director: Franciska Éry
Set and costume design: Peter Butler
Lighting design: Mathieu Cabanes
We’re artists from Hungary, France and the UK, interested in spatial relations and an interdisciplinary approach to opera.
Hungarian director Franciska Éry puts cultural belonging and the audience experience in the forefront of her work. Past projects have received the OffWestend Award for Best Opera Production, Highlights of Hungary, and nominated for the FEDORA prize.
Peter Butler is a visual artist specialising in set and costume design. Credits include Shut Up I’m Dreaming (National Theatre London), A Taste Of Honey (Royal Exchange Manchester), The Shape of Things (Park 200). He won the Linbury Prize for Stage Design and nominated for the Stage Debut Award.
Mathieu Cabanes is a French lighting designer. Credits include La Belle au Bois Dormant (Opéra National de Lyon), Don Pasquale, Le Climat, Séisme (Opéra National de Montpellier), and several productions by Bob Wilson. He works with Concept K, Lab212, Maison Hermès, MISK Art Institute, Saudi Arabia and the Times Art Museum, China.
Musical Director & Piano: Eunyoung Joo
Tony Auer / Orfeo: Markus Butter, Oper Graz
Pastore: Martin Fournier, Oper Graz
Messagiera: Lora Pavletić, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Speranza: Polona Kopač Trontelj, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Caronte: Vladimir Jakšić, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Extras from Oper Graz:
Sarah Auer / Euridice: Elisabeth Besser
LM / La Musica: Heidrun Steidl
Stage Manager: Borut Marter
Assistant Director: Nora Peierl
Consultant Sound Design: Lev Toystore
Team Franciska Éry (HUN) / Peter Butler (GBR) / Mathieu Cabanes (FRA)
Team Giorgio Pesenti (ITA) / Giulia Bruschi (ITA) / Riccardo Mainetti (ITA) / Elena Patacchini (ITA) / Matteo Castiglioni (ITA)
As Europeans, we are not accustomed to early, sudden deaths, such as Euridice’s in the myth. Europe is increasingly aging, with more than 90 million elderly people and many of them receiving inadequate assistance. The Euridice we release into the realm of Pluto could be anybody’s older parent. We are Orfeo as this myth urgently calls to reflect on our present relationship with death.
In our narrative, the hero is an old man forced to face a double conflict: on the one hand, to overcome the death of the person he loved all his life, and on the other, alone, locked up in a retirement home, forced to deal with his impending death, with the inability to be independent. He is a man split in two: his body is aging, but his voice still sings for love. Isolated and surrounded by strangers in uniform, Orfeo seeks refuge in the past. In the retirement home, he forgets Euridice’s death and makes a plan to escape and find his lost love. The retirement home turns into a baroque theatre where Orfeo stages his final journey. Like in a fairy tale, the hero flees. Outside, he encounters the city: a modern, fast, consumerist world. Orfeo accepts the journey into contemporary hell and finds Euridice. With the fiercest form of love, she helps Orfeo to turn around. By looking back and accepting life Orfeo will organize his memories and surrender to the end of things.
Director: Giorgio Pesenti
Set and costume design: Giulia Bruschi
Set design: Riccardo Mainetti
Dramaturgy: Elena Patacchini
Video design & Sound design: Matteo Castiglioni
As a team, we want to explore the social and political power of musical theatre to question our times.
Giorgio Pesenti, director and pianist, is Daniele Abbado’s assistant, with whom he worked in theatres such as La Scala and La Fenice. He cofounded Opera Popolare, that combines social and theatrical issues.
Giulia Bruschi, set and costume designer, trained in Architecture at Politecnico of Milan and in Set and Costume Design at Brera Academy.
Riccardo Mainetti, set designer, trained in Theatre Design at Brera Academy in Milan. Together, they designed Aida in Teatro Sociale Como with a social choir and a collaborative workshop process.
Elena Patacchini, playwright and dramaturg, finalist at the 2023 Biennale Teatro. She worked in theatre such as Teatro Stabile del Veneto and Teatro Nazionale di Genova. She is cofounder of Opera Popolare.
Matteo Castiglioni, composer and multimedia artist, worked at Opera di Roma and at Biennale di Venezia, focusing on live-visuals and site-specific projects.
Musical Director & Piano: Stefan Birnhuber / Naor Shani
Orfeo: Felix Heuser, Alumni of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Pastore: Edvard Strah, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Messagiera: Neira Muhić, Oper Graz
Speranza: Beatriz Gaudencio Ramos, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Caronte: Will Frost, Oper Graz
Old Orfeo: Ruggero Dondi
Extras from Oper Graz:
Young Euridice: Valentina Butter
Old Euridice: Herta Lenz
Stage Manager: Roland Fischer
Assistant Director: Markus Schauermann
The competition is structured in three stages, with its distinctive feature being the final round, where selected teams bring their concepts to life in fully staged productions at Schauspielhaus Graz.
A record number of 353 young artists from 38 countries took part in the first stage of the RING AWARD 25, submitting innovative staging concepts for the competition opera L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. The RING AWARD jury, composed of international opera directors and music theatre professionals, reviewed all (anonymised) submissions and selected nine teams for the semi-final.
In the second stage, the semi-final, the teams presented their concepts and scale models to the jury and the public. In addition to artistic presentations, rehearsal samples and the feasibility of the designs were evaluated.
In the final stage, three teams realised their artistic visions live at Schauspielhaus Graz, each staging a 40-minute excerpt of the competition opera:
Maria Chagina (RUS) / Anna Agafonova (ISR) / Sören Sarbeck (DEU)
Franciska Éry (HUN) / Peter Butler (GBR) / Mathieu Cabanes (FRA)
Giorgio Pesenti / Giulia Bruschi / Riccardo Mainetti / Elena Patacchini / Matteo Castiglioni (ITA)
Between performances, the Speakers’ Corner created a space for dialogue, where the directing teams answered questions from the jury and the audience, offering deeper insight into their artistic approaches.
The Concept Area complemented the festival experience with an exhibition of models, concepts, and background materials, giving audiences a glimpse into the creative process from idea to realisation.
Being globally unique, the RING AWARD is widely regarded as a significant platform for launching the careers of young talents. It mirrors the pulse of contemporary theatre, highlighting new directions in directing, stage and costume design, and performance practice. In doing so, it makes a meaningful contribution to the ongoing evolution of music theatre as a dynamic and relevant art form.
The RING AWARD is organised by Bühnen Graz – Oper Graz, Schauspielhaus Graz, Next Liberty, and art + event | Theaterservice Graz, in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
Often referred to as the “first opera”, this favola in musica was first performed in 1607 and remains a central part of the music theatre repertoire, continuously reinterpreted on stages around the world. The myth of the artist Orpheus, who moves both living and non-living nature with his song and descends into the underworld out of love for Eurydice, has inspired since antiquity.
How will this ancient narrative be reinterpreted by the emerging voices of the RING AWARD?
Prologue: The Muse of Music appears and promises the audience a Favola in Musica – a tale framed and elevated by music.
Act I: Orpheus and Eurydice, deeply in love, celebrate their wedding surrounded by shepherds and nymphs. They call upon Hymen, the god of marriage, to bless their union.
Act II: As Eurydice leaves with her companions to gather flowers for the wedding bouquet, Orpheus stays behind in joyful company. Suddenly, Sylvia arrives with tragic news: Eurydice has been bitten by a snake and died with Orpheus’ name on her lips. Devastated, Orpheus resolves to descend into the underworld to bring his beloved Eurydice back.
Act III: Hope leads Orpheus to the threshold of the underworld. With his enchanting music, he puts Charon, the gatekeeper and ferryman, to sleep and is able to cross the Styx. The souls of the dead, too, are moved and permit him to continue on his way.
Act IV: Moved by love, Proserpina implores Pluto to release Eurydice. The lord of the underworld consents – but only if Orpheus refrains from looking back at her until they reach the upper world. Hand in hand, they begin their ascent. Yet, gripped by fear or longing, Orpheus turns and with a sorrowful cry, Eurydice fades into the shadows forever.
Act V: Orpheus mourns his lost love, and only the echo answers his cries. Taking pity on his son, Apollo carries Orpheus and Eurydice into the stars. On Earth, the singer’s love and song are praised for all eternity.
NEW! EUR 2.500 Sustainability Prize, sponsored by art + event | Theaterservice Graz, awarded by the Sustainability Jury
NEW! EUR 3.000 Dramaturgy Prize, sponsored by Schauspielhaus Graz and Oper Graz
NEW! EUR 1.500 Heinz Weyringer-Prize (Honorary President)
EUR 1.000 Audience Prize, sponsored by Wagner Forum Graz
Recognition fee for each semifinal team: EUR 2.500
1st Prize RING AWARD, a stage production at one of the stages of Oper Graz, EUR 2.500
2nd Prize Province of Styria Prize, EUR 2.500
3rd Prize Bühnen Graz Prize, EUR 2.500
Recognition fee for each final team: EUR 7.000
Additional Special Prizes for stage productions may be awarded by several theatres and opera houses.
We are proud that RING AWARD 25 meets the criteria of the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Events!
By doing so, we are sending a strong signal for sustainability in the cultural sector and are furthermore proving that environmental responsibility and artistic excellence can go hand in hand.
Green Events are events that take into account ecological, social, economic, and cultural sustainability in a comprehensive way and actively support the implementation of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Reducing environmental impact through climate-friendly mobility
Conserving resources by efficiently using and reusing materials
Promoting social inclusion through barrier-free access
Supporting the regional economy through partnerships with local businesses
Prioritising regional, seasonal, and fairly produced (organic) food – not only delicious, but also sustainable
Ensuring transparency and encouraging feedback
Click HERE for more information about the RING AWARD as a Green Event.
As a Green Event, RING AWARD 25 encourages all visitors to travel as sustainably as possible – by train, bus, or bicycle. Forming carpools is also a simple and effective way to reduce emissions. Our venues, Schauspielhaus Graz and Next Liberty, are barrier-free, easily accessible by public transportation, and equipped with bicycle parking facilities.
Deborah Siebenhofer
RING AWARD Project Management
art + event | Theaterservice Graz GmbH · Kaiser-Josef-Platz 10 · 8010 Graz · Austria
M: +43 676 3811379
T: + 43 316 8008-1154
We will gladly provide high-resolution press photos upon request.
