Benjamin Britten’s opera Owen Wingrave, a new production of the 51st Festival della Valle d’Itria presented in its Italian premiere, has won the 45th edition of the “Franco Abbiati” Music Critics’ Prize in the category Best Musical Initiative of 2025.
The award, one of the most prestigious recognitions in the Italian music scene, honours one of the main highlights of last year’s Festival, the first under the artistic direction of composer Silvia Colasanti, who strongly supported the production, marking the beginning of a new artistic chapter for the Festival.
The news has just been announced by the Italian National Association of Music Critics (ANCM).
The Prize
The jury – composed of the board of the National Association of Music Critics (president Andrea Estero, Alessandro Cammarano, Carlo Fiore, Gianluigi Mattietti, Carla Moreni, Roberta Pedrotti, Alessandro Rigolli) and seven critics elected by the association’s members (Attilio Cantore, Sandro Cappelletto, Susanna Franchi, Giancarlo Landini, Gregorio Moppi, Lorenzo Tozzi, Gaia Varon) – also taking into account suggestions from other members, selected the winners of the 13 prizes across different categories (including the Best Musical Initiative award received by Owen Wingrave), choosing among productions, concerts and initiatives presented in Italian theatres and concert halls throughout 2025.
This year’s edition was dedicated to the memory of Angelo Foletto, a leading figure in Italian music criticism who recently passed away. Foletto served as president of the Association for almost thirty years and made a major contribution to contemporary musical debate. The dedication is particularly meaningful for the Fondazione Paolo Grassi of Martina Franca and the Festival della Valle d’Itria, which from their earliest editions found in Angelo Foletto an attentive observer, a valuable interlocutor and a sincere friend.
The motivations for the awards and details about the prize ceremony will be announced soon.
The Opera
Owen Wingrave was one of the central moments of the Festival’s 2025 edition, “Wars and Peace”, conveying a powerful pacifist message. The story tells of a young man who rebels against the military tradition that has dominated his aristocratic family for generations.
Presented in its Italian premiere, more than fifty years after its composition, Britten’s opera was staged at the Palazzo Ducale in Martina Franca, conducted by Daniel Cohen leading the Orchestra of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, with stage direction by Andrea De Rosa, sets by Giuseppe Stellato, and costumes by Ilaria Ariemme.
The principal cast featured singers highly specialised in the English repertoire: baritone Äneas Humm in the title role, bass-baritone Kristian Lindroos (Spencer Coyle), tenor Ruairi Bowen (Lechmere), soprano Charlotte-Anne Shipley (Miss Wingrave), and mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty (Kate Julian). An important contribution also came from the young singers selected by the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti”: soprano Lucía Peregrino as Mrs Coyle, soprano Chiara Boccabella as Mrs Julian, tenor Simone Fenotti as General Sir Philip Wingrave, and tenor Chenghai Bao as the Narrator. Also appearing on stage, involving young talents from the local area, was the Paolo Grassi Foundation Children’s Choir, conducted by Angela Lacarbonara.
Written between 1969 and 1970, the twelfth and penultimate opera by the greatest English composer of the twentieth century, the work was commissioned by the BBC, which broadcast it in 1971, bringing it into British homes through television. Two years later, a stage version was prepared and premiered at Covent Garden in London on 10 May 1973.
“I have dedicated my life to creative acts, and I cannot take part in acts of destruction”: this is what Britten declared before the local tribunal for the registration of conscientious objectors in 1942, during the Second World War. A conviction he reaffirmed through this opera, composed during the years of the Vietnam War, against which the British composer took a firm and unwavering stand.
The recognition awarded to Owen Wingrave confirms the value of a courageous and strongly distinctive artistic choice. Presenting Britten’s opera for the first time in Italy reflects the Festival della Valle d’Itria’s commitment to exploring rarely performed repertoire, combining rigorous musicological research, high artistic standards, and attention to themes that resonate with the present day. In this perspective, the Abbiati Prize further reinforces the Festival’s role as a key point of reference in the Italian and international musical landscape, capable of preserving tradition while renewing it through vision and innovation.
