Every Grammys Best Opera Recording winner

26 ceremonies, 2000–2025. 23 different winners. The longest run was Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 2 years straight (2023–2024).

James Conlon ×2Kent Nagano ×2Yannick Nézet-Séguin ×2

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

Who kept losing

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won

Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs5 noms
Valery Gergiev5 noms
Antonio Pappano4 noms
Christian Thielemann3 noms
Charles Mackerras2 noms
Donald Runnicles2 noms

Most losses

Yannick Nézet-Séguin6L · 2W
Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs5L · 0W
Valery Gergiev5L · 0W
Antonio Pappano4L · 0W
Christian Thielemann3L · 0W
Gil Rose3L · 1W

The full list

Year	Winner	Label
2025	Esa-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
2024	Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Blanchard: Champion)repeat beat 2 others Gil Rose (Corigliano: The Lord of Cries) Timur (Little: Black Lodge)	Unrecorded
2023	Yannick 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
2022	Karen 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
2021	David 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
2020	Gil 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
2019	Michael 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
2018	Hans 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
2017	James 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
2016	Seiji 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
2015	Paul 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
2014	Thomas 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
2013	James 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
2012	Alan 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
2011	Kent 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
2010	Daniel 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
2009	James 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
2008	Sir 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
2007	Robert 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
2006	Sir 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
2005	René 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
2004	Bernard 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
2003	Daniel 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
2002	Colin 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
2001	Kent 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
2000	John 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

More Grammys categories

Record Song New Artist Pop Album Gospel Album CCM Album Gospel Perf/Song CCM Perf/Song Roots Gospel Album Trad. Gospel Album R&B Gospel Album Pop Gospel Album Southern Gospel Album Latin Pop Album Latin Rock Album Latin Pop/Rock Album All 152 categories

Call next year’s winner before your friends do

You’ve seen the whole history. Now put a pick on the record and run a live pool when the Grammys come back around.

Start a free party