German baritone Christian Gerhaher’s performance in Tannhäuser has won him the 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Opera award.
Gerhaher’s triumph is all the more impressive as it comes for his Royal Opera debut in the role of Wolfram von Eschinbach in Wagner’s opera, which was revived for the first time in 20 years at the Covent Garden venue.
Gerhaher, who trained as a doctor before moving into music professionally, first played the role in Frankfurt in 2007.
Fellow German Jonas Kaufmann (Adriana Lecouvreur) and British baritone Andrew Shore (The Elixir Of Love) miss out on the award.