ICMA Awards 2017: The Winners

19/01/2017

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards – ICMA today announced the winners for 2017. « The ICMA Jury comprises 16 leading media from 14 countries, having the most up to date knowledge of the classical music market. Our Jury is totally independent and international, and therefore provides reliable guidance to the global audience. This year, the jury selected 17 audio and video productions from a total of 321 nominations. The jury was most excited about the list of finalists obtained after two rounds. They reflected the variety and the extremely high level of this short list out of which the winners were selected. No other awards for classical musical present such a carefully filtered list of winners,” said Remy Franck, President of the Jury.

Tabea Zimmermann (c) M. Borggreve

Matti Salminen

ICMA 2017 also present nine Special Awards paying respect to exceptional musicians and producers. The renowned Finnish bass Matti Salminen wins the LifetimeAchievement Award, German viola player Tabea Zimmermann is Artist of the Year. Considering two categories, Vocal and Instrumental, the Jury chose German-Italian pianist Sophie Pacini and French soprano Elsa Dreisig as Young Artists of the Year. The Discovery Award, organized in collaboration with the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein, goes to 15-year-old German pianist Robert Neumann. The Swedish label BIS is Label of the Year.

Special Achievement Awards are given to the producer and founder of the record label Naxos, Klaus Heymann as well as to the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and to the young Ensemble Esperanza from Liechtenstein.

The Awards of the 15 CD and DVD categories follow in a list at the end of this press release. With equally placed productions in two categories the number of awards is 17.

The winners will receive the ICMA trophies during the annual Award Ceremony taking place this year in Leipzig, Germany, 1 April 2017. The evening will also include a Gala Concert at the Gewandhaus, with the participation of ICMA winners and the Gewandhausorchester conducted by Francesco Angelico. Through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the concert will be available to radio stations all over the world.

The International Classical Music Awards are the only truly independent and international awards for classical music in the world. The jury consists of professional music critics of the most important magazines, online services and radio stations: Andante (Turkey), Classic Radio (Finland), Crescendo (Belgium), Das Orchester (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), HRT Croatian RadioTelevision, IMZ (Austria), MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Opera (UK), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Resmusica.com (France), Rondo Classic (Finland), and Scherzo (Spain).

SPECIAL AWARDS

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Matti Salminen

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Tabea Zimmermann

YOUNG ARTIST OF THE YEAR INSTRUMENTAL

Sophie Pacini

YOUNG ARTIST OF THE YEAR VOCAL

Elsa Dreisig

DISCOVERY AWARD

Robert Neumann

LABEL OF THE YEAR

BIS

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Klaus Heymann

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Ensemble Esperanza

AUDIO & VIDEO CATEGORIES

EARLY MUSIC
Roland De Lassus: Canticum Canticorum
Chœur de chambre de Namur, Ensemble Clematis
Leonardo Garcia Alarcon
Ricercar
RIC 370

BAROQUE INSTRUMENTAL
L’ange et le diable
Tartini – Locatelli – Vitali – Leclair – Forqueray
Chouchane Siranossian, Jos van Immerseel
Alpha
255

BAROQUE VOCAL
Serpent & Fire
Purcell – Graupner – Sartorio – Locke – Händel – Hasse – Cavalli
Anna Prohaska
Il Giardino Armonico
Giovanni Antonini
Alpha 250

Ex aequo

J.S. Bach: Johannes-Passion
Werner Güra, Benno Schachtner, Sunhae Im,
Sebastian Kohlhepp, Johannes Weisser
RIAS Kammerchor, Staats-& Domchor Berlin
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs
Harmonia Mundi
HMC802236/37

VOCAL RECITAL
Schubertiade
Schubert: Lieder, Instrumentalstücke & Rezitation
Julian Prégardien
Marc Hantaï, Xavier Diaz-Latorre, Philippe Pierlot
Myrios
MYR018

CHORAL MUSIC
Geistliche Gesänge: Reger – J.S. Bach – Nystedt
MDR-Rundfunkchor, Florian Helgath
Querstand
VKJK 1627

OPERA
Claude Vivier: Kopernikus
Svea Schildknecht, Uta Buchheister, Barbara Ostertag, Neal Banerjee
Ji-Su Park, Dorothea Winkel
Holst-Sinfonietta, Opera Factory Freiburg, Klaus Simon
Bastille Musique bm001

SOLO INSTRUMENT
Piotr Tchaikovsky: The Seasons Op. 37bis, Children’s Album Op. 39
Elena Bashkirova
Gideon Boss
GB008

Ex-aequo

Sergei Lyapunov – Works for Piano Vol. 2
Florian Noack
Ars Produktion
38209

CHAMBER MUSIC
Duo Sessions
Halvorsen – Kodaly – Ravel – Schulhoff
Julia Fischer & Daniel Müller-Schott
Orfeo
C902161A

CONCERTOS
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto op. 64
Schumann: Violin Concerto WoO 234
Carolin Widmann, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
ECM
4812635

SYMPHONIC MUSIC
Claudio Abbado: The last Concert
Mendelssohn: Ein Sommernachtstraum
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14
Deborah York, Stella Doufexis, Damen des Chors des BR
Berliner Philharmoniker
Claudio Abbado
BPHR 160081

CONTEMPORARY
Oriental Trumpet Concertos
Penderecki – Say – Khachaturian – Arutiunian
Gábor Boldoczki
Sinfonietta Cracovia, Jurek Dybal
Sony Classical
88985361092

BEST COLLECTION
Szymanowski: Overture op. 12
Lutoslawski: Cello Concerto, Symphony No. 4
Gautier Capuçon
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Liebreich
Accentus
ACC30388

HISTORICAL
Mahler – Loewe – Wagner – Brahms – Schubert …
Maureen Forrester
Hertha Klust, Michael Raucheisen, Felix Schröder
Audite
21437

VIDEO PERFORMANCE
Alban Berg: Wozzeck
Christian Gerhaher, Gun-Brit Barkmin, Brandon Jovanovich
Mauro Peter, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Lars Woldt,
Pavel Daniluk, Cheyne Davidson, Martin Zysset, Irène Friedli
Philharmonia Zürich, Chor der Oper Zürich
Fabio Luisi
Stage Director: Andreas Homoki
Accentus Music ACC10363