66th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Celebrating Classical Music’s Finest

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The 66th annual GRAMMY Awards took place this Sunday, in Los Angeles, California. Among award winners were ten classical music recordings, highlighting a broad range of repertoire and musical styles.

Montreal’s own Yannick Nézet-Séguin accepted the GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording, along with Ryan Speedo Green, Latonia Moore, Eric Owens, and producer David Frost, for the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere recording of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, meanwhile, won the award for Best Orchestral Performance, for their recording of Thomas Adès’s Dante.

Choral music was celebrated by the award for Best Choral Performance, which went to Nils Schweckendieck, the Uusinta Ensemble, and the Helsinki Chamber Choir, for their recording of the late Kaija Saariaho’s Reconnaissance. Contemporary American vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, meanwhile, took home Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their album, Rough Magic.

Soloists Yuja Wang (pianist) and Julia Bullock (mezzo soprano) were honored for their respective work, with Wang winning Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her performance on The American Project, with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Teddy Abrams, and Bullock taking home Best Classical Solo Vocal Album alongside conductor Christian Reif, for Walking in the Dark, recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Composer Jessie Montgomery won her first GRAMMY for her album Rounds. The project, which features Awadagin Pratt, A Far Cry, and Roomful Of Teeth earned her Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Best Classical Compendium, meanwhile, was awarded to Passion for Bach and Coltrane, by Alex Brown, the Harlem Quartet, Imani Winds, Edward Perez, Neal Smith, A.B. Spellman, and producers Silas Brown and Mark Dover.

Behind the scenes, producer Elaine Martone took home Producer of the Year, Classical, for her work on Ascenso by Santiago Cañón-Valencia, and engineers David Frost, Charlie Post, and Silas Brown received Best Engineered Album, Classical, for their work on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s recent album titled Contemporary American Composers.

Outside of the realm of classical music, Montreal’s Allison Russell took home the award for Best American Roots Performance, for her song ‘Eve Was Black.’