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A visual history · Grammys

The winners who defined Opera Recording.

26 ceremonies, 2000–2025. 23 different winners. The longest run belongs to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with 2 straight wins.

Who won most recently?
Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2025 for Saariaho: Adriana Mater.
Who has won the most?
James Conlon, Kent Nagano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, tied on 2 wins each.
  1. Saariaho: Adriana MaterEsa-Pekka Salonen
  2. Blanchard: ChampionYannick Nézet-Séguin
  3. Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My BonesYannick Nézet-Séguin
  4. Glass: AkhnatenKaren Kamensek
  5. Gershwin: Porgy and BessDavid Robertson
  6. Picker: Fantastic Mr. FoxGil Rose
Years explored
2000–2025
Different winners
23
Category leader
James Conlon · 2

2000–2025

26 ceremonies

20002025

01 / The reigns

Yannick Nézet-Séguin set the longest run.

The timeline turns the 2000–2025 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited label.

  1. 01
    James Conlon2 wins
  2. 02
    Kent Nagano2 wins
  3. 03
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin2 wins
Each band is one winner’s reign. Wider means a longer run. Colored by label; hover for details.
John Eliot Gardiner'00
Kent Nagano'01
Colin Davis'02
Daniel Barenboim'03
Bernard Haitink'04
René Jacobs'05
Sir Colin Davis'06
Robert Spano'07
Sir Charles Mackerras'08
James Conlon'09
Daniel Harding'10
Kent Nagano'11
Alan Gilbert'12
James Levine and Fabio Luisi'13
Thomas Adès'14
Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs'15
Seiji Ozawa'16
James Conlon'17
Hans Graf'18
Michael Christie'19
Gil Rose'20
David Robertson'21
Karen Kamensek'22
Yannick Nézet-Séguin'23–'24×2
Esa-Pekka Salonen'25

03 / The near misses

The names that kept coming back without the ending they wanted.

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won this award

  1. 01
    Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs
    5 noms
  2. 02
    Valery Gergiev
    5 noms
  3. 03
    Antonio Pappano
    4 noms
  4. 04
    Christian Thielemann
    3 noms
  5. 05
    Charles Mackerras
    2 noms
  6. 06
    Donald Runnicles
    2 noms

Most losses in this category

  1. 01
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
    6L · 2W
  2. 02
    Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs
    5L · 0W
  3. 03
    Valery Gergiev
    5L · 0W
  4. 04
    Antonio Pappano
    4L · 0W
  5. 05
    Christian Thielemann
    3L · 0W
  6. 06
    Gil Rose
    3L · 1W

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2025. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

YearWinnerLabel
2025Esa-Pekka Salonen (Saariaho: Adriana Mater)
beat 4 others
  • John Adams (Adams: Girls of the Golden West)
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Catán: Florencia en el Amazonas)
  • Gerard Schwarz (Moravec: The Shining)
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Puts: The Hours)
Unrecorded
2024Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Blanchard: Champion)repeat
beat 2 others
  • Gil Rose (Corigliano: The Lord of Cries)
  • Timur (Little: Black Lodge)
Unrecorded
2023Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones)
beat 2 others
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Aucoin: Eurydice)
  • Gil Rose (Davis: X - The Life and Times of Malcolm X)
Unrecorded
2022Karen Kamensek (Glass: Akhnaten)
beat 4 others
  • Susanna Mälkki (Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle)
  • Simon Rattle (Janácek: Cunning Little Vixen)
  • Corrado Rovaris (Little: Soldier Songs)
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites)
Unrecorded
2021David Robertson (Gershwin: Porgy and Bess)
beat 4 others
  • Gil Rose (Dello Joio: The Trial at Rouen)
  • William Boggs (Floyd: Prince of Players)
  • Maxim Emelyanychev (Handel: Agrippina)
  • Donald Runnicles (Zemlinsky: Der Zwerg)
Unrecorded
2020Gil Rose (Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox)
beat 4 others
  • George Benjamin (Benjamin: Lessons in Love & Violence)
  • Marc Albrecht (Berg: Wozzeck)
  • Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs (Charpentier: Les Arts Florissants; Les Plaisirs de Versailles)
  • Christian Thielemann (Wagner: Lohengrin)
Unrecorded
2019Michael Christie (Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs)
beat 4 others
  • John Adams (Adams: Doctor Atomic)
  • Christophe Rousset (Lully: Alceste)
  • Sebastian Weigle (R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier)
  • Constantine Orbelian (Verdi: Rigoletto)
Unrecorded
2018Hans Graf (Berg: Wozzeck)
beat 4 others
  • Lothar Koenigs (Berg: Lulu)
  • Gianandrea Noseda (Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles)
  • George Petrou (Handel: Ottone)
  • Valery Gergiev (Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel)
Unrecorded
2017James Conlon (Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles)
beat 4 others
  • Giovanni Antonini (Handel: Giulio Cesare)
  • Miguel Harth-Bedoya (Higdon: Cold Mountain)
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro)
  • Antonio Pappano (Szymanowski: Król Roger)
Unrecorded
2016Seiji Ozawa (Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges; Shéhérazade)
beat 4 others
  • Donald Runnicles (Janácek: Jenufa)
  • Martin Pearlman (Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria)
  • Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail)
  • Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs (Steffani: Niobe, regina di Tebe)
Unrecorded
2015Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs (Charpentier: La descente d'Orphée aux enfers)
beat 4 others
  • Kenneth Kiesler (Milhaud: L'Orestie d'Eschyle)
  • William Christie (Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie)
  • Sylvain Cambreling (Schoenberg: Moses und Aron)
  • Christian Thielemann (Strauss: Elektra)
Unrecorded
2014Thomas Adès (Adès: The Tempest)
beat 4 others
  • Oliver Knussen (Britten: The Rape of Lucretia)
  • Tönu Kaljuste (Kleiberg: David and Bathsheba)
  • Diego Fasolis (Vinci: Artaserse)
  • Christian Thielemann (Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen)
Unrecorded
2013James Levine and Fabio Luisi (Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen)
beat 4 others
  • Michael Boder (Berg: Lulu)
  • René Jacobs (Handel: Agrippina)
  • Vladimir Jurowski (Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress)
  • Jordi Savall (Vivaldi: Teuzzone)
Unrecorded
2012Alan Gilbert (Adams: Doctor Atomic)
beat 4 others
  • Fabio Biondi (Vivaldi: Ercole Sul Termodonte)
  • Antonio Pappano (Verdi: La Traviata)
  • Hannu Lintu (Rautavaara: Kaivos)
  • Mark Elder (Britten: Billy Budd)
Unrecorded
2011Kent Nagano (Saariaho: L'Amour de loin)
beat 4 others
  • David Lloyd-Jones (Sullivan: Ivanhoe)
  • Valery Gergiev (Shchedrin: The Enchanted Wanderer)
  • Matthew Dirst (Hasse: Marc' Antonio E Cleopatra)
  • Antonio Pappano (Berg: Lulu)
Unrecorded
2010Daniel Harding (Britten: Billy Budd)
beat 4 others
  • Tan Dun (Tan Dun: Marco Polo)
  • Valery Gergiev (Shostakovich: The Nose)
  • Sara Jobin (Musto, John: Volpone)
  • Ingo Metzmacher (Messiaen: Saint François D'Assise)
Unrecorded
2009James Conlon (Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny)
beat 4 others
  • Valery Gergiev (Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin)
  • Rinaldo Alessandrini (Monteverdi: L'Orfeo)
  • Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs (Lully: Psyché)
  • Tan Dun (Tan Dun: The First Emperor)
Unrecorded
2008Sir Charles Mackerras (Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel)
beat 4 others
  • Zubin Mehta (Verdi: La Traviata)
  • Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs (Lully: Thésée)
  • Mark Elder (Donizetti: Dom Sébastien, Roi De Portugal)
  • José de Eusebio (Albéniz: Pepita Jiménez)
Unrecorded
2007Robert Spano (Golijov: Ainadamar: Fountain Of Tears)
beat 4 others
  • Carlo Rizzi (Verdi: La Traviata)
  • Charles Mackerras (Smetana: The Bartered Bride)
  • René Jacobs (Mozart: La Clemenza Di Tito)
  • Stewart Robertson (Bennett: The Mines of Sulphur)
Unrecorded
2006Sir Colin Davis (Verdi: Falstaff)
beat 4 others
  • Fabio Biondi (Vivaldi: Bajazet)
  • Semyon Bychkov (Strauss, R.: Daphne)
  • Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs (Conradi: Ariadne)
  • Richard Hickox (Britten: Death in Venice)
Unrecorded
2005René Jacobs (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro)
beat 4 others
  • René Jacobs (Scarlatti, A.: Griselda)
  • Emmanuelle Haïm (Purcell: Dido and Aeneas)
  • Antoni Ros Marbá (Montsalvatge: El Gato con Botas)
  • Emmanuelle Haïm (Monteverdi: L'Orféo)
Unrecorded
2004Bernard Haitink (Janáček: Jenůfa)
beat 4 others
  • George Manahan (Thomas: Desire Under The Elms)
  • William Christie (Rameau: Zoroastre)
  • Simone Young (Halévy: La Juive)
  • Peter Eötvös (Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle, Op. 11)
Unrecorded
2003Daniel Barenboim (Wagner: Tannhäuser)
beat 4 others
  • Sir Charles Mackerras (Mozart: Idomeneo)
  • Marc Minkowski (Handel: Hercules)
  • Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Gluck: Alceste)
  • Daniel Harding (Britten: The Turn of the Screw)
Unrecorded
2002Colin Davis (Berlioz: Les Troyens)
beat 4 others
  • Giuseppe Sinopoli (Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos)
  • Michael Schonwandt (Ruders: Handmaid's Tale)
  • Antonio Pappano (Massenet: Manon)
  • Sir Charles Mackerras (Janácek: Sárka)
Unrecorded
2001Kent Nagano (Busoni: Doktor Faust)
beat 4 others
  • Marc Minkowski (Rameau: Dardanus)
  • Valery Gergiev (Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko)
  • Richard Hickox (Britten: Billy Budd)
  • Ingo Metzmacher (Berg: Wozzeck)
Unrecorded
2000John Eliot Gardiner (Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress)
beat 5 others
  • Ulf Schirmer (Nielsen: Maskarade)
  • Kent Nagano (Messiaen: Saint François D'Assise)
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen (Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre)
  • Charles Mackerras (Dvorák: Rusalka)
  • Thomas Adès (Adès: Powder Her Face)
Unrecorded