ICMA award winner 2015

The editors from Switzerland, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, Luxembourg, France, Finland, Spain and Austria selected the winners in the categories listed below from 248 nominated CDs and DVDs. The ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) is the only organization that awards prizes for classical music CDs and DVDs based on the verdict of a jury consisting exclusively of professional critics.

The Swiss label Claves is being honored for its recording of Mozart's Oboe Concerto and Haydn's Sinfonia concertante by the Orchestra Mozart under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

The following special prizes were also awarded: Conductor Dmitrij Kitajenko is honored for his lifetime achievement; violinist Christian Tetzlaff receives the "Artist of the Year" award; Young Artist of the Year are Yury Revich in the instrumental category and Jodie Devos in the vocal category. Label of the Year is Accentus and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and the following two recordings are honored for special recordings.

Panufnik Edition: Lukasz Dlugosz, Ewa Kupiec, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Sarah van der Kemp, Michael von Schönermark, Raphael Wallfisch, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Lukasz Borowicz (cpo)

Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Art of Fugue (Accentus CD: ACC30308); Goldberg Variations (Accentus DVD: ACC20313)

Categories and award winners:

EARLY MUSIC
Bal-Kan. Honey and Blood, Cycles of Life; Meral Azizoğlu, Irini Derebei, Gürsoy Dinçer, Lior Elmaleh, Montserrat Figueras, Tcha Limberger, Marc Mauillon, Amira Medunjanin, Stoimenka Outchikova-Nedyalkova, Agi Szalóki, Zacharias Spyridakis, Hespérion XXI, Jordi Savall (Alia Vox AVSA 9902)

BAROQUE INSTRUMENTAL
Pavanes and Fantasies from the Age of Dowland; Dowland - Purcell - Jenkins - Lawes - Morley - Locke; John Holloway, Monika Baer, Renate Steinmann, Susanna Hefti, Martin Zeller (ECM 4810430)

BAROQUE VOCAL
Vivaldi: Pieta - Sacred Works for Alto; Philippe Jaroussky, Ensemble Arteserse (Erato 825646258109)

VOCAL RECITAL
Stella di Napoli; Pacini - Bellini - Carafa - Rossini - Mercadante - Donizetti...; Joyce DiDonato, Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lyon, Riccardo Minasi (Erato 2564636562)

CHORAL WORKS
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis; Lucy Crowe, Jennifer Johnston, James Gilchrist, Matthew Rose, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Soli Deo Gloria SDG 718)

OPERA
Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story; Alexandra Silber, Cheyenne Jackson, Jessica Vosk, Kevin Vortmann, Juliana Hansen, Kelly Markgraf, Julia Bullock, San Francisco Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS Media 821936-0059-2)

SOLO INSTRUMENT
Franz Schubert: Sonatas D. 894 & D. 959; Evgeni Koroliov, piano ( Tacet 979)

CHAMBER MUSIC
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio op. 3 - Serenade op. 8; Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra (BIS 2087)

CONCERTOS
Joseph Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante; Wolfgang A. Mozart: Oboe Concerto; Lucas M. Navarro, Gregory Ahss, Konstantin Pfiz, Guilhaume Santana Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado (Claves 1302)

SYMPHONIC MUSIC
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9; Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon 4793441)

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Unsuk Chin: Piano and Cello Concertos, Su for Sheng and Orchestra; Alban Gerhardt, Wu Wei, Sunwook Kim, Seoul Philharmonic, Myung-Whun Chung (Deutsche Grammophon 481 0971)

BEST COLLECTION
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete Symphonies; Danish National Chamber Orchestra, Adam Fischer (Dacapo 8201201)

HISTORICAL RECORDING
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 1-9; The State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture; Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Melodiya MELCD 1002170)

DVD PERFORMANCE
Nikolaï Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh; Vladimir Vaneev, Maxim Aksenov, Svetlana Ignatovich, John Daszak, Alexey Markov, Netherlands Opera Chorus, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Marc Albrecht, conductor, Dmitri Tcherniakov, stage director (Opus Arte OA1089D)

DVD DOCUMENTARIES
Richard Strauss and his Heroines; A Film by Thomas von Steinaecker; Brigitte Fassbaender, Renée Fleming, Gwyneth Jones, Christa Ludwig Christian Strauss, Rufus Wainwright, Franz Welser-Möst (Arthaus Musik 102181)