The 55th Annual Classical Grammy Winners

...and the Grammys go to...

Best Orchestral Performance

Adams: Harmonielehre & Short Ride In A Fast Machine
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)
[SFS Media]








Best Opera Recording

Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen
James Levine & Fabio Luisi, conductors; Hans-Peter König, Jay Hunter Morris, Bryn Terfel & Deborah Voigt; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
[Deutsche Grammophon]




Best Choral Performance

Life & Breath - Choral Works By René Clausen
Charles Bruffy, conductor (Matthew Gladden, Lindsey Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sarah Tannehill & Pamela Williamson; Kansas City Chorale)
[Chandos]






Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance

Meanwhile
Eighth Blackbird
[Cedille Records]









Best Classical Instrumental Solo

Kurtág & Ligeti: Music For Viola
Kim Kashkashian
[ECM New Series]










Best Classical Vocal Solo

Poèmes
Renée Fleming (Alan Gilbert & Seiji Ozawa; Orchestre National De France & Orchestre Philharmonique De Radio France)
[Decca Records]







Best Classical Compendium

Penderecki: Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; Partita; The Awakening Of Jacob; Anaklasis
Antoni Wit, conductor; Aleksandra Nagórko & Andrzej Sasin, producers
[Naxos]






Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Hartke, Stephen: Meanwhile - Incidental Music To Imaginary Puppet Plays
Stephen Hartke, composer (Eighth Blackbird)
Track from: Meanwhile
[Cedille Records]






Best Engineered Album:
Tom Caulfield & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer for
Life & Breath - Choral Works By René Clausen
Charles Bruffy, conductor (Matthew Gladden, Lindsey Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sarah Tannehill & Pamela Williamson; Kansas City Chorale)
[Chandos]


Producer of the Year, Classical:
Blanton Alspaugh -- Chamber Symphonies (Gregory Wolynec & Gateway Chamber Orchestra); Davis: Río De Sangre (Joseph Rescigno, Vale Rideout, Ava Pine, John Duykers, Kerry Walsh, Guido LeBron, The Florentine Opera Company & Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra); Gjeilo: Northern Lights (Charles Bruffy & Phoenix Chorale); In Paradisum (Brian A. Schmidt & South Dakota Chorale); Life & Breath - Choral Works By René Clausen (Charles Bruffy & Kansas City Chorale); Music For A Time Of War (Carlos Kalmar & The Oregon Symphony); Musto: The Inspector (Glen Cortese & Wolf Trap Opera Company).

Congratulations to the winners and to all those artists, composers and recordings that were nominated.

- Dick Strawser