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Irish Independent

Irish composer Michael Gallen's ‘The Curing Line' wins Fedora Prize –world's largest award for new opera

The new opera, created by Straymaker – Mr Gallen's own company based in Monaghan – has won the prize of €100,000. The Fedora Opera Prize 2025 was presented at a ceremony at the Vienna State Opera on Saturday, April 26. The prize is awarded every two years for the best new opera in Europe, with the winner selected by an international jury of leading opera producers. Composer and director Michael Gallen (39), who is originally from Co Monaghan and now lives in south Co Mayo, told the Irish Independent he was 'shocked' to win the prestigious prize. 'From one point of view, it really felt like it was already a bit of a coup for us to be nominated for the award. Straymaker is a small artist-led independent company,' he said. "And normally, the fellow nominees and projects that have won the Fedora before have been supported by major European opera houses. So we really felt that it was already a win for us to be nominated, but I'm just thrilled that we've been selected for the prize. 'Aside from the significant financial contribution towards the opera, it puts our work on the radar of some of the major gatekeepers of European opera. The judging panel is made up of the heads of the Paris Opera and the Dutch National Opera, some of the largest opera institutions in the world. "So, it's really incredible to think that our work is now on that radar and that we have the opportunity to share it with a much wider and more diverse audience,' he added. The Curing Line is co-directed by Mr Gallen and American filmmaker Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, and is produced by Irish producer Maura O'Keefe. The Fedora president, Stéphane Argyropoulos, who presented the award to Mr Gallen, Mr Fitzgerald and Ms O'Keeffe, said the project 'redefines the operatic genre by fusing tradition with multimedia innovation'. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, the Fedora opera prize jury chair, Birgitta Svendén, said the 'theme for The Curing Line is more relevant than ever". "This project is deeply immersive and multisensorial, which gives the possibility to expand the boundaries of opera. "The narrative, the musical language and the staging will resonate to the audience of tomorrow,' she added. Minister for Arts Patrick O'Donovan added: "We are all very proud that Straymaker, a small company led by Michael Gallen, has been awarded this honour. I want to sincerely congratulate all involved.' The Curing Line, which is drawn from ethnographic research into Ireland's indigenous traditions of 'making cures', explores themes of healing, loss of culture and environmental collapse through the story of a woman who inherits a life-saving ancestral healing power but loses her capacity to use it. The premiere is planned for August 2026 at Kilkenny Arts Festival before touring in Ireland and internationally. The work of Michael Gallen is performed across the main stages and festivals of Europe in both contemporary classical and popular music settings. His opera Elsewhere, which premiered at the Abbey Theatre in 2021, was also nominated for the Fedora Prize that year.