It's a historic night as a new dazzling array of next-generation classical musicians represents the honored canon.
New faces and voices graced the stage of the 66th annual Grammy Awards last Monday night, Feb. 5., when artists and musical collectives collected their awards across all the classical music categories.
Winners Under the Classical Categories in the 2024 Grammys
Among the award recipients were Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who took the "cake" for Best Orchestral Performance in their "Thomas Adès: Dante" piece.
Alongside them are Nils Schweckendiek with the Uusinta Ensemble and the Helsinki Chamber Chor, bagging the Best Choral Performance Award for their "Saariaho: Reconnaissance.
Terence Blanchard and The Metropolitan Opera's "Champion" won them this year's Best Opera Recording honor, with Met Opera Music Director and Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin accepting the award saying: "It takes more than a village in opera."
While soprano singer Latonia Moore accompanied him up the stage, Nézet-Séguin continued his speech by thanking Blanchard and "all the voices of our time" for their sustained respect and dedication in keeping the canon of "great musicians" alive and relevant until this day.
One of those voices that he described belongs to soprano Julia Bullock, who earned the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album Award that night for her "Walking In The Dark." She accepted the win alongside fellow winner conductor Christian Reif and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Roomful of Teeth, another set of the next generation's classical music representatives, took the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance Award and expressed their appreciation for having the "gift" of "exploring humanity through our voices" amid trying times in the world.
The Best Classical Instrumental Solo Award, on the other hand, went to "The American Project" pianist Yuja Wang, who shared the stage and the record with Louisville Orchestra led by Teddy Abrams.
This Grammys' Producer of the Year, Classical win went to Elaine Martone after experiencing a very productive period of her career through her involvement in Third Coast Percussion's "Between Breaths," Seth Parker Woods' "Difficult Grace," and the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst's "Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5."
For her acceptance speech, Martone reflected on her time within the industry by comparing the one minute she spent on stage to the "44 years" she gave for classical music, before thanking her family and fellow nominees David Frost and Morten Lindberg.
Best Engineered Classical Album was won by Frost and Charlie Post for their "Contemporary AMerican Composers" record, which featured Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
"Passion For Back and Coltrane" collaborators Alex Brown, Harlem Quartet, Imani Winds, Edward Perez, Neal Smith, and A.B. Spellman bagged the win for the Best Classical Compendium Album Award.
Lastly, it was Jessie Montgomery who won the honor of taking home the Best Contemporary Classical Composition Award for her "Montgomery: Rounds."
What an incredible honor, especially after my dear Imani Winds and Harlem Quartet," she said. "What a beautiful community we have, like you said, of support and vision."
