01 Oct 2012 14:29

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2012

The annual Gramophone awards took place in London’s iconic The Dorchester hotel last Thursday, 27 September. Described by many as the Oscars of classical music, the awards recognised some of the industry's brightest and biggest stars.
 
This year’s Recording of the Year was a wonderful performance of music by Schütz, released on the Ricercar label. Its conductor Lionel Meunier was a popular recipient  - on receiving the Award for best Baroque Vocal recording the French musician, on his first visit to London, gave his first speech in English, before later returning to the podium to give his second when the disc was named the overall winner.
 
Other artists honoured included the supremely talented 20-year-old pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, named Instrumental winner and Young Artist of the Year. The event, hosted by editor-in-chief James Jolly was co-hosted by conductor Eric Whitacre and soprano Danielle de Niese, who also starred in one of the ceremony’s live performances.
 
James Jolly said of the awards: ‘Once again, the classical record industry has delivered! A constant stream of recordings continues unabated that bears witness to the creativity, imagination, flair, tenacity, style and prodigious talent of musicians, A&R directors and labels’ creative and editorial teams the world over.’
 
If you would like to hear more you can download all the winning tracks for from iTunes by following this link.

You can see the full list of winners from the Gramophone awards 2012 by following this link.