Villaz‹n, Netrebko, The Sixteen, Sting and McCartney Among Nominees for Classical Brit Awards | Playbill

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Classic Arts News Villaz‹n, Netrebko, The Sixteen, Sting and McCartney Among Nominees for Classical Brit Awards The nominations for the eighth annual Classical BRIT Awards were unveiled yesterday in London.
Nineteen-year-old Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti clocked the most nominations, with Instrumentalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Young British Classical Performer. Mexican lyric tenor Rolando Villaz‹n and Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel were nominated for two awards each: Villaz‹n for Singer of the Year and the Critics' Award, Terfel for the Album of the Year and the Critics' Award. Vocal ensemble The Sixteen and its director, Harry Christophers, also won two nominations, for Classical Recording of the Year and Album of the Year.

Sting was another nominee in the Album of the Year category, shortlisted for his classical debut, Songs from the Labyrinth, an album of songs by the 16th-century composer John Dowland. (The disc, on which Sting is accompanied by the Bosnian lute virtuoso Edin Karamazov, was released by Deutsche Grammophon last autumn.) He faces competition from Terfel, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (playing Paul McCartney's oratorio Ecce Cor Meum), Benedetti and the boys' choir Libera.

Villaz‹n is joined in the Singer of the Year category by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and British baritone Simon Keenlyside. The Instrumentalist of the Year category includes last year's winner, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, as well as Benedetti and British trumpeter Alison Balsom (who performed at the Classical BRIT Awards in 2006 and was named Young British Classical Performer.)

In the Classical Recording of the Year category, Christophers and The Sixteen (who were nominated for Ikon, a collection of sacred music) are joined by the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle (for their recording of Holst's The Planets) and the London Symphony Orchestra and Colin Davis (for Sibelius's Kullervo).

This year's Contemporary Composer of the Year category contains albums by John Adams, Karl Jenkins (who was once a jazz-rock musician) and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Competing for the Critics' Award are Bryn Terfel for his album Tutto Mozart, Rolando Villaz‹n for Opera Recital and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and conductor Ren_ Jacobs for Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito.

A panel of reviewers from Gramophone magazine picks the nominees for Young British Classical Performer; Benedetti is joined on the shortlist by Scottish tenor Nicky Spence and violinist Ruth Palmer.

The Classical BRIT Awards were established in 2000. Classic FM listeners and Classic FM magazine readers choose the Album of the Year, for which voting begins on 10 April at www.classicfm.com. The winners of the eight categories will be announced on May 3 at the Royal Albert Hall.


SINGER OF THE YEAR

  • Anna Netrebko - The Russian Album & Violetta
  • Rolando Villazon - Opera Recital
  • Simon Keenlyside - Tales of Opera

    INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

  • Alison Balsom - Bach: Works for Trumpet & Caprice
  • Leif Ove Andsnes - Horizons
  • Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin

    CLASSICAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

  • Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle -
    Holst: The Planets
    EMI Classics
  • London Symphony Orchestra/Colin Davis -
    Sibelius: Kullervo
    LSO Live
  • The Sixteen/Harry Christophers - Ikon
    Universal Classics

    CONTEMPORARY COMPOSER OF THE YEAR:

  • John Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur / My Father Knew Charles Ives
    Nonesuch/Warner Music
  • Karl Jenkins: Kiri Sings Karl & TLEP
    EMI Classics & Sony Classical
  • Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: "Naxos Quartets" Nos. 5 & 6
    Naxos

    SOUNDTRACK COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • John Williams - Munich
  • George Fenton - Planet Earth
  • James Newton Howard - The Village

    NS&I ALBUM OF THE YEAR

  • Alfie Boe - Classic FM Presents
    Classic FM/SonyBMG
  • All Angels - All Angels
    Universal
  • Bryn Terfel - Tutto Mozart
    Deutsche Grammophon/Universal
  • Katherine Jenkins - Serenade
    Universal Classics
  • Libera - Angel Voices
    EMI Classics
  • Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin
    Deutsche Grammophon/Universal
  • Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Greenaway
    Paul McCartney: Ecce Cor Meum
    EMI Classics/EMI
  • Sting - Songs from the Labyrinth
    Deutsche Grammophon/Universal
  • The Fron Male Voice Choir - Voices from the Valley
    Universal
  • The Sixteen/Harry Christophers - Ikon Universal

    CRITICS' AWARD

  • Bryn Terfel - Tutto Mozart
    Deutsche Grammophon
  • Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/Ren_ Jacobs -
    Mozart: La clemenza di Tito
    Harmonia Mundi
  • Rolando Villaz‹n - Opera Recital
    Virgin Classics/ EMI
    YOUNG BRITISH CLASSICAL PLAYER
  • Nicky Spence - The Scottish Tenor
    UCJ/Universal
  • Nicola Benedetti - Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin
    Deutsche Grammophon/Universal
  • Ruth Palmer - Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
    and Sonata for Violin and Piano
    Quartz
  •  
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