The Fedora Prize has been presented to a new opera which was co-produced by the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Irish composer Michael Gallen’s “The Curing Line” picked up what’s been summed up as ‘the world’s largest award for new opera’ over the weekend at a ceremony in Vienna.
Awarded biennially, the €100,000 pot is given to a winner selected by an international jury of leading opera producers.
In presenting the award to composer/director Michael Gallen, choreographer/co-director Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern and producer Maura O’Keeffe, Fedora President Stéphane Argyropoulos remarked that the project “redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation”.
Speaking at the event Michael Gallen said that “…for our independent, artist-led work to be selected as the winner of the award gives us a huge rush of affirmation that will carry us forward not just with this project but with all of our future plans and ambitions”
Patrick O’Donovan T.D., Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport said: “I am delighted that the Fedora Prize for Opera has been awarded to an Irish company Straymaker, with Once Off Productions as producing partner for their new opera The Curing line. We are all very proud that Straymaker, a small company from the West of Ireland led by Michael Gallen, has been awarded this honour. I want to sincerely congratulate all involved.”
Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly said “Everyone at the Arts Council congratulates Michael Gallen and his artistic collaborators on this wonderful award. In recent years, we have been honoured to support his work in many ways and we are delighted that this award will bring an even wider audience to his ground-breaking work. Opera in Ireland is going through a very exciting period as exemplified by Michael’s visionary work”.
Artistic Director of Kilkenny Arts Festival Olga Barry said “We couldn’t be more thrilled for Michael Gallen and all the team at Straymaker – the Fedora Prize has recognised Michael’s process of making work, which expands and disrupts the boundaries of opera by developing the work in a truly multidisciplinary way with an ensemble drawn from opera, dance, traditional and pop backgrounds. The Curing Line is rooted in the indigenous culture, yet utterly contemporary. Kilkenny Arts Festival is proud to be a co-producer of this exciting new work from Straymaker.”
The development of The Curing Line has been supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and Creative Monaghan and the premiere is planned for August 2026 at Kilkenny Arts Festival before touring in Ireland and internationally in the 2026/27 season.
