Thalia awards handed out at gala ceremony in Prague’s National Theatre

The Czech Actors' Association presented the prestigious annual Thalia awards at Prague’s National Theatre on Saturday night. The awards are given in recognition of exceptional performances in the fields of drama, opera and ballet as well as for lifetime achievement.

Lifetime achievement awards were  presented to actor Viktor Preiss, singer Helena Vondráčková, soprano Naďa Šormová and dancer and choreographer Josef Kotěšovský. The award also went to actress Štěpánka Ranošová and Jan Číhal, co-founder of Ostrava's White Theatre, in memoriam. A newly established award for a foreign artist went to the Slovak actor Milan Kňažko.

The Thalia awards for drama went to Kateřina Císařová and Miloslav König from Prague's Divadlo Na zábradlí. In the musicals category the awards went to the musical Chicago, staged by the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre where the jury appreciated the outstanding stage performances of Markéta Schimmerová Procházková and Lukáš Vlček.

In opera the awards went to soprano Soňa Godarská, who performed the lead role in Manon at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň and Peter Berger who excelled in the  role of Dalibor in Bedřich Smetana's opera at the National Theatre in Brno.