Interview: Five minutes with Harry Hyman

Building a fair and prosperous world for future generations is one of our core values, and supporting young talent is important to us - whether that is in the arts or accounting. And, as an international firm in over 90 countries, we applaud the diversity and inclusivity reflected in the awards.

The International Opera Awards were founded in 2012 with the aim to raise the profile of opera as an art form, to recognise and reward success in opera and to generate funds to provide bursaries for aspiring operatic talent from around the world. In 2020, the Foundation established an Artist Hardship Fund, providing emergency grants to previous bursary recipients facing financial hardship due to the pandemic.

Here, we speak to Harry Hyman - CEO of Primary Health Properties PLC and founder of the International Opera Awards - on the value of the arts, the impact of the pandemic and the importance of resilience.

Q1 - Harry, you founded the International Opera Awards in 2012. This must have taken a great deal of time and commitment. What drove you to do this?

Fundamentally, my own lifelong love of opera, and a desire to see it celebrated more widely. It occurred to me one evening – in the middle of a performance – to wonder why theatre, TV and film should all have their own dedicated awards ceremonies, but not opera. One of my other businesses, Investor Publishing, was already successfully running industry-specific awards, so I knew we had the basic structure and team in place to make it work, and we were fortunate to have Opera magazine come on board from the start as our media partner, ensuring that the opera world embraced us from the outset. By establishing the Opera Awards Foundation at the same time, we were able to shine a light on opera at its absolute best and also offer support to the next generation of artists, both of which are crucial if opera as an art form is going to continue to flourish. 

Q2 - The past year has been extremely difficult for opera professionals and the arts in general and resilience was recognised at the awards. What, if anything, has surprised you in relation to resiliency in the profession over the past year?

I wouldn’t say I was surprised by the resilience of the profession – because it’s such a fundamental quality in successful performing artists anyway – but I would say I was incredibly heartened and encouraged by just how agile and imaginative the opera world showed itself to be in the face crisis, adapting to the ever-changing regulations and using new technologies and performance platforms to bring opera to its audiences even when all the theatres were closed. I’ve also been inspired by the determination of the youngest emerging artists to stick with it: at the outset of the pandemic, a lot of us feared we might lose a generation of talent but thankfully, in our experience at least, that hasn’t been the case. 

Q3 - Good governance in opera is recognised with its own award and it’s an interesting aspect that possibly doesn’t get the attention it deserves on a daily basis. Given your professional success and obvious strong business acumen, having developed Primary Health Properties from an idea to a listed FTSE 250 business, what similarities do you see between opera and business?

In both fields, I would say success comes down in large part to belief in yourself and trust in your colleagues. Creativity is key, but it has to be underpinned by hard work, patience, and attention to detail, and once you’ve identified your goal – whether that’s a property acquisition or a performance of Tosca – the way to get there is by building a team which shares that vision and has the skills to achieve it. You won’t get rave reviews every time, but you have to keep striving for excellence.

Q4 - It’s tough out there at the moment for young people who are just starting their careers, particularly in opera. What advice would you give to anyone who is trying to break into the industry?

With my corporate hat on, I would say: get an accountant! You are an artist, but you are also a business, and you owe it yourself to make sure that, while you’re developing that artistry, you also equip yourself with the practical and financial toolkit to manage a freelance career. As a lover of opera, my advice is simply to believe in yourself and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. If you have a gift and a passion for opera, then you deserve to be a part of it, no matter what your background, and there are plenty of people here in the industry ready to help you make that happen.

Q5 - Last but not least, what was the biggest highlight for you at this year’s awards ceremony?

We were fortunate enough to have some incredible performances and star guests at this year’s ceremony, any one of which would qualify as a major highlight, but what was particularly special for me was how truly international the audience was. As much as we missed being in the theatre with an in-person audience, one silver lining of hosting the awards online was that people who might not have made it to a show in London were able to be a part of it – watching their reactions live on night was absolutely wonderful.  It’s made us even more determined to make the Awards, and everything we do, a truly global celebration.

The International Opera Awards and Mazars will be hosting a lunchtime concert series later in the year. If you would like to join us,

Please sign up here

Find out more about the International Opera Awards.