2018 Grammy Nominations Are Announced

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced nominations for the 60th annual Grammy Awards this morning. Of interest to Bay Area classical music enthusiasts is news that Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s live concert recording of Debussy: Images, Jeux, La plus que lente was nominated in the category of Best Orchestral Performance. This is the orchestra's 21 first nomination; they have won 15 times over the years.

The full list of 2018 Grammy nominees is available at the Recording Academy’s website. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony slated for Jan. 28 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The event will be broadcast on CBS.

Nominations in the Classical Field include the following.

Best Orchestral Performance:

• Concertos For Orchestra — Louis Langrée, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)

• Copland: Symphony No. 3; Three Latin American Sketches — Leonard Slatkin, conductor (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)

• Debussy: Images; Jeux & La Plus Que Lente — Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)

• Mahler: Symphony No. 5 — Osmo Vänskä, conductor (Minnesota Orchestra)

• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio — Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Best Opera Recording:

• Berg: Lulu — Lothar Koenigs, conductor; Daniel Brenna, Marlis Petersen & Johan Reuter; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra)

• Berg: Wozzeck — Hans Graf, conductor; Anne Schwanewilms & Roman Trekel; Hans Graf, producer (Houston Symphony; Chorus Of Students And Alumni, Shepherd School Of Music, Rice University & Houston Grand Opera Children’s Chorus)

• Bizet: Les Pêcheurs De Perles — Gianandrea Noseda, conductor; Diana Damrau, Mariusz Kwiecień, Matthew Polenzani & Nicolas Testé; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)

• Handel: Ottone — George Petrou, conductor; Max Emanuel Cencic & Lauren Snouffer; Jacob Händel, producer (Il Pomo D’Oro)

• Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel — Valery Gergiev, conductor; Vladimir Feliauer, Aida — Garifullina & Kira Loginova; Ilya Petrov, producer (Mariinsky Orchestra; Mariinsky Chorus)

Best Choral Performance:

• Bryars: The Fifth Century — Donald Nally, conductor (PRISM Quartet; The Crossing)

• Handel: Messiah — Andrew Davis, conductor; Noel Edison, chorus master (Elizabeth DeShong, John Relyea, Andrew Staples & Erin Wall; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir)

• Mansurian: Requiem — Alexander Liebreich, conductor; Florian Helgath, chorus master (Anja Petersen & Andrew Redmond; Münchener Kammerorchester; RIAS Kammerchor)

• Music Of The Spheres — Nigel Short, conductor (Tenebrae)

• Tyberg: Masses — Brian A. Schmidt, conductor (Christopher Jacobson; South Dakota Chorale)

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance:

• Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1 — Arcangelo

• Death and The Maiden — Patricia Kopatchinskaja & The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

• Divine Theatre – Sacred Motets By Giaches De Wert — Stile Antico

• Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann — Joyce Yang & Augustin Hadelich

• Martha Argerich & Friends – Live From Lugano 2016 — Martha Argerich & Various Artists

Best Classical Instrumental Solo:

• Bach: The French Suites — Murray Perahia

• Haydn: Cello Concertos — Steven Isserlis; Florian Donderer, conductor (The Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie Bremen)

• Levina: The Piano Concertos — Maria Lettberg; Ariane Matiakh, conductor (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin)

• Shostakovich: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 — Frank Peter Zimmermann; Alan Gilbert, conductor (NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester)

• Transcendental — Daniil Trifonov

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album:

• Bach & Telemann: Sacred Cantatas — Philippe Jaroussky; Petra Müllejans, conductor (Ann-Kathrin Brüggemann & Juan de la Rubia; Freiburger Barockorchester)

• Crazy Girl Crazy – Music By Gershwin, Berg & Berio — Barbara Hannigan (Orchestra Ludwig)

• Gods & Monsters — Nicholas Phan; Myra Huang, accompanist

• In War & Peace – Harmony Through Music — Joyce DiDonato; Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor (Il Pomo D’Oro)

• Sviridov: Russia Cast Adrift — Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra & Style Of Five Ensemble)

Best Classical Compendium:

• Barbara — Alexandre Tharaud; Cécile Lenoir, producer

• Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto & Oboe Concerto — Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer

• Kurtág: Complete Works For Ensemble & Choir — Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor; Guido Tichelman, producer

• Les Routes De L’Esclavage — Jordi Savall, conductor; Benjamin Bleton, producer

• Mademoiselle: Première Audience – Unknown Music Of Nadia Boulanger — Lucy Mauro; Lucy Mauro, producer

Best Contemporary Classical Composition:

• Danielpour: Songs Of Solitude — Richard Danielpour, composer (Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)

• Higdon: Viola Concerto — Jennifer Higdon, composer (Roberto Díaz, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)

• Mansurian: Requiem — Tigran Mansurian, composer (Alexander Liebreich, Florian Helgath, RIAS Kammerchor & Münchener Kammerorchester)

• Schoenberg, Adam: Picture Studies — Adam Schoenberg, composer (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)

• Zhou Tian: Concerto For Orchestra — Zhou Tian, composer (Louis Langrée & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)

Best Engineered Album, Classical:

• Danielpour: Songs Of Solitude & War Songs — Gary Call, engineer (Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)

• Kleiberg: Mass For Modern Man — Morten Lindberg, engineer (Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Trondheim Vokalensemble & Trondheim Symphony Orchestra)

• Schoenberg, Adam: American Symphony; Finding Rothko; Picture Studies — Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)

• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio — Mark Donahue, engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

• Tyberg: Masses — John Newton, engineer; Jesse Brayman, mastering engineer (Brian A. Schmidt, Christopher Jacobson & South Dakota Chorale)

Producer Of The Year, Classical:

• Blanton Alspaugh

• Manfred Eicher

• David Frost

• Morten Lindberg

• Judith Sherman