57th International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch (IVC)
Opera | Oratorio

JURY

• Dame Gwyneth Jones (Honorary Jury Member - Soprano)
• Roberta Alexander (soprano)
• Eva-Maria Westbroek (soprano)
• Michael Chance (countertenor)
• Rosemary Joshua (soprano - head Dutch National Opera Studio)
• Pål Christian Moe (artistic administrator and casting adviser)
• Karen Stone (director Opera Europa)
  
• Monique Wagemakers (stage director)

Dame Gwyneth Jones
Honorary Jury Member | Soprano

Dame Gwyneth Jones was born in Wales, Great Britain. After studies at the Royal College of Music, London-, The Accademia Chigiana Siena, the International Opera Studio in Zurich and with Maria Carpi, she made her debut at the Zurich Opera House in 1962. She has been singing at the Royal Opera Covent Garden since 1963 and is member of the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 1966. She is one of the most successful and versatile opera singers in the world.

In Vienna, Munich, London, Paris and at the MET in New York, she has triumphed in operas by Richard Strauss. Salome, Helen of Egypt (both recorded), Ariadne, the Dyer's Wife and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (on CD Video conducted by Carlos Kleiber) are among her best roles. Since adding Elektra to her repertoire in 1983, she has been sensationally successful wherever she is performing it. At the Bayreuth Festival she has proved to be an outstanding interpreter of the characters of Richard Wagner: she sang Sieglinde, Eva, Senta and Kundry (both recorded). She was the first singer ever to sing both Elisabeth and Venus (Tannhäuser) at the Festspielhaus(available on Video). In 1976 she was Brünnhilde in the successfully filmed new production of the Ring des Nibelungen (Boulez/Chèreau) for the centenary celebration of the festival. The gramophone recording received the Grammy award. In 1980 she became a brilliant Isolde, and in 1991 added Ortrud. In the theatre of the original production (Theater an der Wien), she sang Beethoven's Fidelio for the celebration of the 200th birthday of Beethoven in a new production with Leonhard Bernstein. She has filmed Leonore with Karl Böhm, with whom she also recorded it.

In her Italian roles, she has been successful at La Scala di Milano with Leonore (Trovatore). In Rome and the Arena of Verona with Aida, at the Maggio Musicale Firenze as Lady Macbeth. She is a fascinating Tosca and a superb Butterfly. Her Turandot, which she studied with the legendary Dame Eva Turner, proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career at the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles 1984, and thereafter in London and everywhere. She added La Fanciulla del West to her repertoire in 1991. In 1989 she sang La Voix humaine (Poulenc) and in 1990 Erwartung (Schönberg). In 1996 she added Kostelnicka in Jenufa (Janacek) and Bellini's Norma. 1998. She sang Begpick in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagony in the Opening Premier of the Salzburg Festival. In 1999 Kabanicha in Katia Kabanowa (Janacek). 2007 she sang the Queen of hearts in the World-Premier of Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

She has sung in all the important opera houses throughout the world: Vienna State Opera, London Royal Opera Covent Garten, at the MET, in Paris, La Scala di Milano, in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Barcelona,Buenos Aires, Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago and at the Festivals in Bayreuth, Salzburg, Verona,Edinburgh, Orange, Peking, Hong Kong, Seoul etc.

She has worked with great conductors like Abbado, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Böhm, Boulez, Davis, Giulini,Haitink, Kempe, Kleiber, Krips, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Levine, Maazel, Mehta, Muti, Ozawa, Sawallisch, Solti,Thielemann, von Dohnanyi and with producers such as Chéreau, Everding, Friedrich, Hartmann, Kupfer,Ponnelle, Rennert, Ronconi, Schenk, Serban, Visconti, W. Wagner, Zefirelli.

In films and for TV, she has performed Isolde, Aida, Turandot, Senta, Marschallin, Fidelio, Venus,Elisabeth, Brünnhilde, the Dyer's Wife, Poppea, The Merry Widow, La Voix humaine and Erwartung. She sings recitals and orchestral concerts in the famous concert-halls (Carnegie Hall, Concertgebow, Musikverein, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysee, Suntory Hall, etc.) and is often the star of TV shows. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, EMI, Decca, CBS, Sony, Capriccio, Chandos and Koch International.

Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II appointed her Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1986. In 1980, honorary Member of Royal Academy of Music. In 1987 she was awarded the Shakespeare-Prize in Hamburg; in 1988 the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse" of the Federal Republic of Germany, and became in 1989 Honorary Member of the Vienna State Opera. In 1990, she became President of the Richard Wagner Society, London, and in 1991 received the Golden Medal of Honor in Vienna. In 1992 she became Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France and Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In 1998, she received the Österreichische Ehren Kreuz für Wissenshaft und Kunst 1 Klasse. She is Dr. h.c. of the Universities of Wales and Glamorgan and received the title Kammersängerin in both Austria and Bavaria. In 2003 she received the Premio Pucci Award in Torre del Lago and in 2004 the Cymry for the World Honour at the opening of the Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff. She has given Master classes in Great Britain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Montreal and Switzerland. She made her Debut as Stage Director with a New Production of Der fliegende Holländer Richard Wagner (where she was also responsible, together with her Stage Designer Laurent Berger, in the Deutsches National Theatre in Weimar.

Roberta Alexander
Soprano

Among the most compelling singing actresses of our time, Roberta Alexander enjoys international renown for her riveting, incisive characterizations, miraculous vocal and dramatic range.

She recently performed the role of Curra in Christoph Loy’s production of La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2019, and at Dutch National Opera in 2017. With Patrice Chéreau she created the role of Fünfte Magd in his legendary production of Elektra at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2013. Since then, she has revived the role at the Metropolitan Opera in 2016, at Teatro alla Scala in 2018, and at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin in 2019. In 2020 she rehearsed the role of Ein Page der Herodias in Salomé in a new production for Teatro alla Scala by Damiano Michieletto, led by Riccardo Chailly, before the performances had to be postponed due to Covid-19. In the 2023/24 season, she returns to the Berliner Staatsoper as Fünfte Magd, and will focus on roles such as Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Madame de Croissy in Les Dialogues des Carmélites and Ms Sedley in Peter Grimes.

As well as performing, teaching and masterclasses remain an important part of her daily life, as passing on her expertise to the next generation of young singers is a significant purpose for her. She offers a broad range of classes for Young Artists Programmes, drawing on her 45 years of stage experience. She teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and has recently given masterclasses in London at Wigmore Hall, at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

In 2020, she was awarded the Edison Classical Oeuvre Prize for her lifetime achievements. Roberta Alexander was reared in a musical family. She studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1969 to 1971, receiving M. Music in 1971. She made her operatic debut at Dutch National Opera in 1975 in La cambiale di matrimonio. By 1984 she had been part of no fewer than 26 productions at Dutch National Opera. She appeared as Pamina at the Houston Grand Opera in 1980, as Daphne in Santa Fe in 1981, and as Elettra in Idomeneo in Zürich in 1982. Following a tour of Europe, she made a successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Zerlina in November 1983.

Among the operatic heroines, she has unforgettably portrayed are the title role of Janacek's Jenufa (a Glyndebourne production), Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, and especially the great Mozart heroines: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, the latter a major success with both the public and the press at the Glyndebourne Festival. In addition, she has performed principal roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, and the major Houses of Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Zurich and Venice, in Philadelphia and at New York's Carnegie Hall. 

Equally esteemed as an orchestral soloist, Roberta Alexander recently enjoyed particular success performing Ravel's Shéhérazade with André Previn and the NDR Sinfonieorchester, telecast throughout Europe. She has also performed with the Vienna, London and Royal Philharmonics; Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Bavarian Radio Orchestras; Cincinnati, Atlanta and Dallas Symphonies; and collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Slatkin, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Edo De Waart and David Zinman. She recently reunited with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet and the rapturously-received world premiere of Kirchner's Of things exactly as they are. In addition she sang Copland's In the Beginning with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.

An uncommonly communicative recitalist, Roberta Alexander has offered acclaimed programs at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Vienna Musikverein, London's Wigmore Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. An especially ardent and persuasive interpreter of American masterworks, her latest recordings include Songs My Mother Taught Me and With You (the latter an anthology of Broadway songs).

Roberta Alexander's voluminous discography on the Etcetera, Philips, Sony, Teldec and BMG reflects her astonishing mastery of varied vocal styles: songs by Barber, Mozart, Bernstein, Ives, Copland, Strauss, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Puccini and Villa-Lobos; Handel's Giulio Cesare, Apollo e Daphne, Samson and Theodora; Mozart's Don Giovanni and Idomeneo; and such rarities as Goldschmidt's Der Gewaltige Hahnrei and Beatrice Cenci, Heppener's Four Songs of Ezra Pound and an Edison-winning recording of Andriessen's Songs with Orchestra.

Eva-Maria Westbroek
Soprano

Eva-Maria Westbroek is undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed and widely recognized opera singers in the world today. She has appeared in the majority of esteemed opera houses and festivals, including the Bayreuth and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Semperoper Dresden and Bayerische Staatsoper Munich. Her signature roles include Sieglinde Die Walküre, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Minnie La fanciulla del West, Maddalena Andrea Chénier and the title roles in Francesca da Rimini, Jenufa, Manon Lescaut and Katya Kabanova.

​Career highlights to date include Sieglinde at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera and in concert with Sir Simon Rattle and the Bayerischer Rundfunk; Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticanaat La Monnaie, the Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Katerina Ismailova Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Royal Opera House and Dutch National Opera; Minnie La fanciulla del West at the Wiener Staatsoper and Metropolitan Opera; and Maddalena Andrea Chénier opposite Jonas Kaufmann at the Royal Opera House, and in concert with Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne. At the Paris Opera, Eva made her debut in the role of Lidoine Dialogues des Carmélites and was later invited to sing Chrysothemis Elektra, Elisabeth Tannhauser and Katerina Ismailova Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Eva also achieved universal acclaim portraying the title role in the world premiere of Turnage’s Anna Nicole with the Royal Opera House.

​Recent engagements include a return to the Bayerische Staatsoper for Giorgetta Il tabarro before appearing in recital with Thomas Oliemans and Malcolm Martineau at the Wigmore Hall, London, and Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Eva also returned to the Opéra de Paris and Palau de les Arts Valencia for the role of Marie Wozzeck. Future engagements include the role of Madame Lidoine Les Dialogues des Carmélitesfor Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Isolde Tristan und Isolde for The Opera House of New National Theatre, Tokyo and Katerina Ismailova Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Hamburgische Staatsoper.

​Across her career, Eva has sung with such esteemed orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic and Paris Orchestra, working with acclaimed conductors including Marek Janowski, Antonio Pappano, Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Edo de Waart, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Lothar Zagrosek, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christian Thielemann, Carlo Rizzi and Fabio Luisi. She has had the pleasure of singing operatic productions by Martin Kušej, Barbara Frey, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Guy Joosten, Francesca Zambello, David Pountney, Vera Nemirova, Richard Jones, Keith Warner, Christof Loy, Robert Carsen, Andrea Breth and Richard Eyre, to name but a few.

Eva’s vast array of honours and awards includes First Prize at the Dutch VSCD Classical Music Awards in the category ‘Most Impressive Individual Artistic Achievement’, laureate at the Angelica Catalani Concours and the Santa Margherita Ligure Concours, a Grammy nomination for Wozzeck with Dutch National Opera, and the title of Kammersängerin der Staatsoper Stuttgart, the company with which she was a member of the ensemble from 2001 to 2006. Since 2014, Eva has been an Ambassador for Musicians without Borders, a worthy cause that she holds close to her heart.

Michael Chance
Countertenor

Michael Chance has established a worldwide reputation as one of the foremost exponents of the male alto voice in all areas of the classical repertoire, and is in equal demand as an opera, concert and recording artist.

His vocal training with Rupert Bruce Lockhart followed an English degree at King's College, Cambridge where he was also a choral scholar. His first operatic appearance was in the Buxton Festival in Ronald Eyre's staging of Cavalli's Giasone which was followed by appearances in Lyon, Cologne, and three seasons with Kent opera. Subsequently, he has performed in the Sydney Opera House, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, La Scala Milan, Florence, New York, Lisbon, Oviedo, Leipzig, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and with Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, and English National Opera. His roles include the title roles of Orfeo (Gluck), Giasone, Giustino, Rinaldo and Ascanio in Alba, Solomon, Ottone / L’incoronazione di Poppea, Athamas / Semele, Andronico / Tamerlano, Oberon / A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tolomeo / Giulio Cesare and Apollo / Death in Venice. He has had roles written specially for him by Sir Harrison Birtwistle (Orpheus / The Second Mrs Kong) and Judith Weir (A Military Governor / A night at the Chinese Opera). Recent festival appearances include Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms in London, Salzburg and Bertarido in a new production of Handel’s Rodelinda for the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

His appearances in oratorio and recital have taken him to concert halls all over the world including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Neue Gewandhaus and Berlin's Philharmonie. He has given recitals in Frankfurt, Vienna, Amsterdam, Israel, New York and London's Wigmore Hall with a variety of programmes, ranging from Elizabethan lute songs to new works commissioned for him. He sings regularly with the viol consort Fretwork and has toured with them to Japan and the United States.

Michael Chance's list of recordings is numerous and widespread. He received a Grammy award for his participation in Handel's Semele for Deutsche Grammophon with John Nelson and Kathleen Battle. He has recorded frequently with John Eliot Gardiner, including the Bach Passions and Cantatas, B Minor Mass, Monterverdi's Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Handel's Jeptha, Tamerlano and Agrippina. Other conductors he has recorded with include Trevor Pinnock, Franz Brüggen, Ton Koopman and Nicholas McGegan. On his CD for Deutsche Grammophon, “Michael Chance, the Art of Counter-tenor”, he sings solo alto cantatas by Vivaldi with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert.

His belief in extending the counter-tenor repertoire has prompted new work to be composed for him by Richard Rodney Bennett, Alexander Goehr, Tan Dun, Anthony Powers, John Tavener, and Elvis Costello - amongst others.

His television appearances include A Night at the Chinese Opera, Death in Venice, The Fairy Queen, the three Monteverdi operas with Netherlands Opera, Poppea with Welsh National Opera, Messiah in Dublin with Sir Neville Marriner, and in the Autumn 1999 he was featured by the South Bank Show.

Michael Chance was awarded the CBE in the 2009 New Years Honours List.

Rosemary Joshua
Soprano
Head Dutch National Opera Studio

The internationally renowned soprano Rosemary Joshua is the head of Dutch National Opera Studio, a two-year trainee programme for young artists that started in September 2018.

Rosemary Joshua’s career has spanned over three decades as a singer. She has appeared on all the main international stages in the world in roles such as Adele Die Fledermaus, (Metropolitan opera) Bystrouška - The Cunning Little Vixen - and Tytania A Midsummer Night's Dream (La Scala di Milano), Anne Trulove The Rake's Progress (ROH Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Brussels de Munt), Oscar Un ballo in maschera (DNO), Despina Cosi fan tutte (ROH Covent Garden, LA Phil/ Dudamel ) Susanna Le nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne, Koeln, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Welsh National Opera, ENO). Her extensive concert repertoire has been in collaboration with some of the greatest conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Mark Elder, Vladimir Jorowski, Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Collin Davis.

Rosemary Joshua made a name for herself above all as a specialist Handel interpreter from her debut in Aix-en-Provence in 1996 as Angelica Orlando with William Christie (also in ROH Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper München), Cleopatra Giulio Cesare (TCE Paris, Florida Grand Opera), Poppea Agrippina (Oper Köln, Brussels de Munt, TCE Paris), Ginevra Ariodante (San Diego Opera, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow), Nitocris Belshazzar(Aix-en-Provence festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Innsbruck festival), title role Semele (Aix-en-Provence and Innsbruck festival, Köln , ENO and Partenope ENO) and has an extensive discography in the baroque repertoire .

Rosemary has been teaching, coaching and advising young singers since 2015 and collaborates frequently with various Young artists programs, including The Zürich Opera Studio and The Bolshoi young artists program. She was appointed as head of Dutch National Opera Studio in September 2018, helping to create a brand new, relevant international program supporting and representing some of the brightest talents of the new generation.

From 2021 Rosemary Joshua is featured in the successful Dutch TV program ARIA by Omroep Max. During the eight weekly episodes of this show, ten talented opera singers sing well-known arias, which will be judged by an expert jury, led by Rosemary Joshua.

 Pål Christian Moe
Artistic Administrator | Casting Consultant

Pål Christian Moe has extensive experience in casting and as artistic administrator and adviser. He has worked with numerous opera houses, including the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, L’Opéra de Lille and the National Theatre in Prague. He also does vocal casting for the Berlin Philharmonic.

Pål Christian Moe was born in Oslo. After studying English and American literature at the University of London he joined the Norwegian National Opera, first as stage manager, later as dramaturg and artistic administrator.

From 1989-1994 he was Head of Vocal Productions with Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft in Hamburg. In this capacity he supervised recordings of opera, oratorio and symphonic repertoire with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Neeme Järvi, as well as the most important singers of the day. From 1994 to 2004 he held the post as artistic administrator under Hugues Gall at the Paris Opera.

Since 2004 he has worked freelance in casting, beginning with Glyndebourne, which is the longest running collaboration in his career so far. He consulted for Lyric opera of Chicago for three seasons 2005-2008: in 2008 he began an extensive collaboration with Bayerische Staatsoper and Nikolaus Bachler in Munich, an activity that, alongside Glyndebourne, is ongoing at the time of writing. He also did the casting for L’Opéra de Lille and consulted for the Norwegian National Opera.

Karen Stone
Director Opera Europa

From January 2023 Karen Stone has been appointed director of Opera Europa. Opera Europa is the leading service organisation for professional opera companies and opera festivals throughout Europe. It currently serves over 233 members from 44 countries. Karen Stone previously worked for Theater Magdeburg where she held the position of Intendantin for 13 years. Before that, she had been General Director at The Dallas Opera and Generalintendantin at Oper Graz and Opera Director at Oper Köln, as well as having held various positions in theatres in Germany and the United Kingdom, and enjoying an international career as a stage director.

Born in the UK, Stone studied piano and singing in London and Rome. She then worked as an assistant director at the Städtische Bühnen Freiburg from 1982 to 1985. She then moved to London, where she held the same position at the English National Opera until 1987. She then worked from 1987 to 1990 as a stage manager at the Royal Opera London and then until 1995 at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She was responsible for the revivals of Wagner's Parsifal, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Verdi's Il trovatore.

This was followed by a stint at the Cologne Opera. Initially from 1995 to 1997 as deputy opera director, from 1997 to 2000 as opera director. During this time, she was responsible for Robert Carsen's production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, directed by Martin Duncan. From 2000 to 2003 she was artistic director of the Graz Theatre. Her productions of Lessing's Nathan the Wise, Parsifal and Eugene Onegin had a formative influence here. In 2003, she went to the Dallas Opera in the USA, where her productions included Lohengrin and Maria Stuarda.

Karen Stone has also worked as a freelance director. She has worked for the Los Angeles Music Centre Opera, the Teatro Colón de Bogotá, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the English National Opera and in New Zealand. Stone has also been a jury member in international singing competitions. 

In 2009, she joined the Magdeburg Theatre as General Director, where she remained until her retirement in 2022. There she staged Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti, the chamber opera The Fall of the House of Usher by Philip Glass, Puccini's La Bohème and Tosca, Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and the Mozart operas Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte. 2018 saw the 100th birthday of the composer Gottfried von Einem and his opera Danton's Death. In 2019, she directed the opera Vanessa by Samuel Barber. In 2020/2021, she staged the operas Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod and Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi. 2022 saw the premiere of the opera Grete Minde by the German-Jewish composer Eugen Engel, who was murdered during the National Socialist tyranny.

Monique Wagemakers
Stage director

For a long time, Monique Wagemakers has been among the leading opera directors in the Netherlands and far beyond. Monique Wagemakers studied at the Brabant Conservatoire in Tilburg. She made several productions for Dutch National Opera, initially as assistant director, later also as independent director, such as Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Salome and a successful Lucia di lammermoor. In addition, Monique Wagemakers made numerous productions for Dutch Touring Opera and a large number of foreign opera theatres such as Barcelona, Chemnitz, Hannover, Mannheim, Madrid, Mainz, Nürnberg, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Vancouver. She has also worked successfully as a (co-)director and choreographer for the Glyndebourne Festival and the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam.

Her high-profile staging of Madama Butterfly for Stuttgart Opera Theatre in 2006 earned her a nomination for Director des Jahres from the trade magazine Opernwelt. The Association of Friends of the Dutch Touting Opera awarded her with the Vriendenprijs for her many staging credits. Wagemakers was drama teacher at the Utrecht School of the Arts. She directed, among others, Carmen, Peter Grimes, Fidelio, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Ariadne auf Naxos, Rigoletto, Der fliegende Holländer, A Soul of Wood, Katibu di Shon, Il matrimonio segreto, Die Walküre.