The young Australian baritone is headed for Germany as the recipient of the inaugural Deutsche Oper Berlin Award.

Young Australian baritone Sam Roberts-Smith has been announced as the winner of the inaugural Deutsche Oper Berlin Award. Supported by The Opera Foundation for Young Australians, Henkell Brothers Investment Managers and Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Award contracts the winner as a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for a period of 10 months for the 2017–18 season. Auditions were held across Australia in April and May this year. Roberts-Smith, who is originally from Perth, was selected with two other finalists from Melbourne and confirmed as the winner on August 19.

^{Sam Roberts-Smith. Photo supplied}

“Being selected as the winner of the 2016 Deutsche Oper Berlin Award is a moment I will never forget,” he says. “The potential life and career opportunities this Award provides are truly endless and winning it is life-changing. I feel extremely grateful and honoured to be the inaugural recipient. The Deutsche Oper Berlin is one of the greatest opera companies in the world. It is still surreal for me to think that at some point next year I...