San Francisco Symphony, Renee Fleming and Steven Epstein win classical Grammy awards
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The San Francisco Symphony’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10 was the big winner in the classical categories at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. The recording won three trophies including best classical album.
The recording, which was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, also won the Grammy for best choral performance. The album features the Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus. In addition, the recording won for best engineered album.
Renee Fleming won the Grammy for classical vocal performance for her album ‘Verismo Arias.’ The recording features the Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano Giuseppi Verdi.
The Grammy for orchestral performance went to James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra for their recording of Ravel’s ‘Daphnis et Chloe.’
The award for opera recording went to Britten’s ‘Billy Budd,’ performed by the London Symphony with conductor Daniel Harding. The recording features soloists Nathan Gunn, Neal Davies, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose and Gidon Saks.
Steven Epstein won the Grammy for producer of the year, classical. His releases in the past year include John Adams’ ‘Doctor Atomic Symphony’ performed by the St. Louis Symphony, Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ performed by the Baltimore Symphony and Corigliano’s ‘A Dylan Thomas Trilogy’ performed by the Nashville Symphony.
Composer Jennifer Higdon won the award for classical contemporary composition for her Percussion Concerto, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.
The Grammy for instrumental soloist went to classical guitarist Sharon Isbin for ‘Journey to the New World.’
The Emerson String Quartet won the Grammy for chamber music performance for its recording ‘Intimate Letters.’
The award for instrumental soloist with an orchestra went to pianist Evgeny Kissin and the Philharmonia Orchestra for their recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concertos No. 2 and 3. Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted the recording.
Yo-Yo Ma won the Grammy for classical crossover album for ‘Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace.’
The award for small ensemble performance went to David Lang’s ‘The Little Match Girl Passion,’ performed by Ars Nova Copenhagen and Theatre of Voices.
Pop star Roberta Flack served as presenter of the 13 classical awards.
-- David Ng
