The Sixteen won ensemble album of the year award for Renaissance, and Galway took home a lifetime-achievement award.

Composer John Adams won the contemporary-music award for On the Transmigration of Souls and Road Movies, both of which were recorded in 2004. In the soundtrack composer category, split for the first time from contemporary music, John Williams won for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Terminal.

Cellist Natalie Clein won the young British artist award for a collection of Brahms and Schubert sonatas; a disc of Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos by the Dallas Symphony and pianist Stephen Hough won the critic's prize.

The Classical Brits are presented by the British Phonographic Institute, which spun the show off from its Brit Awards for pop music in 2000. The awards were presented at Royal Albert Hall; performers at the ceremony, to be broadcast in Britain on May 29, included violinist Nicola Benedetti and soprano Anna Netrebko.