The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announced today the Awards for 2016. Soprano Dame Felicity Lott is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Composer, trombonist and conductor Christian Lindberg is Artist of the Year, cellist Pablo Ferrandez Young Artist of the Year. For the first time the new Discovery Award for musicians from 12 to 18 is awarded to flutist Nikolai Song, born in 2002, of Korean-Russian parentage.
Harmonia Mundi is Label of the Year. Special Awards are going to Palazzetto Bru Zane and to the label Genuin for the Dinorah Varsi Edition. In the Audio and Video categories, 15 productions from 15 different labels are awarded a prize.
Among the artists performing on the winning audio and video releases are Ensemble Leones, Michala Petri and Mahan Esfahani, Ann Hallenberg, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Herreweghe, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Andras Schiff, Isabelle Faust, Yevgeny Sudbin, Sir Simon Rattle, Krysztof Penderecki, Jordi Savall and Riccardo Chailly.
ICMA President Remy Franck says: « Only an international jury like ours can get, at the end, such an impressive international result with productions from 15 labels and nine different countries. According to our criteria only really outstanding recordings are allowed to win a prize, and to get there, we will certainly never be misled by any chart rankings or the whatsoever popularity of artists. At ICMA, also less known musicians and smaller independent labels have a chance. It’s all about musical quality and integrity! »
The Award Ceremony and Gala Concert will take place on April 1, at the Kursaal in San Sebastian, hosted by the Orquesta de Euskadi (Basque National Orchestra) and San Sebastian European Capital of Culture 2016.
ICMA 2016
SPECIAL AWARDS
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dame Felicity Lott
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Christian Lindberg
YOUNG ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Pablo Ferrandez
DISCOVERY AWARD
Nikolai Song
LABEL OF THE YEAR
Harmonia Mundi
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Palazzetto Bru Zane
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Genuin: Dinorah Varsi Edition
AUDIO & VIDEO CATEGORIES
EARLY MUSIC
Argentum et Aurum – Musical Treasures of the Early Habsburg Renaissance Ensemble Leones, Marc Lewon
Naxos
8.573346
BAROQUE INSTRUMENTAL
La Follia
Arcangelo Corelli: 6 Sonatas
Michala Petri, Mahan Esfahani
Our Recordings
6220610
BAROQUE VOCAL
Agrippina
Porpora – Graun – Händel: Arias
Ann Hallenberg, Il Pomo d’Oro, Riccardo Minasi
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
88875055982
VOCAL RECITAL
Joyce & Tony at Wigmore Hall
Haydn – Rossini – Santoliquido – De Curtis – Foster – Kern …
Joyce DiDonato, Antonio Pappano
Erato
2564610789
CHORAL WORKS
Antonin Dvorak: Requiem
Ilse Eerens, Bernarda Fink, Maximilian Schmitt, Nathan Berg
Collegium Vocale Gent, Royal Flemish Philharmonic
Philippe Herreweghe
PHI
LPH 016
OPERA
Piotr Tchaikovsky: Iolanta
Olesya Golovneva, Alexander Vinogradov, Andrei Bondarenko, Dmytro Popov, Vladislav Sulimsky, John Heuzenroeder, Marc-Olivier Oetterli, Dalia Schaechter, Justyna Samborska, Marta Wryk
Choir of the Cologne Opera
Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne
Dmitrij Kitajenko
Oehms Classics OC963
SOLO INSTRUMENT
Franz Schubert: Sonatas, Impromptus & Moments Musicaux
Andras Schiff
ECM 4811572
CHAMBER MUSIC
Johannes Brahms: Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 – Robert Schumann: Romances
Brahms/Schumann/Dietrich: F.A.E. Sonata
Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov
Harmonia Mundi HMC902219
CONCERTOS
Nikolai Medtner: Piano Concerto No. 3 – Alexander Scriabin: Piano Concerto
Yevgeny Sudbin
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
BIS Records
2088
SYMPHONIC MUSIC
Jean Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 – 7
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings
BPHR 150071
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Krzysztof Penderecki: Clarinet Concerto, Flute Concerto
Concerto grosso for 3 Cellos and Orchestra
Michel Lethiec, Lukasz Dlugosz
Arto Noras, Bartosz Koziak, Rafal Kwiatkowski
The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Krzysztof Penderecki
Dux 1186
BEST COLLECTION
Guerre et Paix
Blow – Biber – Caldara – Händel …
Hesperion XXI, Le Concert des Nations, Capella Reial, Jordi Savall
Alia Vox
AVSA9908
HISTORICAL RECORDING
Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. VIII
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2, Schumann: Piano Concerto
Annie Fischer, Leon Fleisher
Swiss Festival Orchestra, George Szell
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Audite
95643
VIDEO PERFORMANCE
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly
Accentus Music
ACC20309 42
VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES
Daniil Trifonov
The Magics of Music – The Castelfranco Veneto Recital
By Christopher Nupen
Allegro Films
A 19 CND
