Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP
Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks — with Australian Chamber Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra — won four Grammy Awards, as announced during the much less publicized afternoon portion of the Sunday award ceremonies in Los Angeles. They were for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Best Classical Vocal Solo (Dawn Upshaw), Best Engineered Album, and (partially for) Producer of the Year (David Frost)
Winter Morning Walks, which was performed at the Ojai Music Festival in 2011, is a series of songs based on poems by Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. The poems were inspired by Kooser's battle with cancer and chemotherapy treatment.
The Minnesota Orchestra — just back from an unconscionably long labor dispute — won Best Orchestral Performance for the recording of Sibelius' Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4, conducted by Osmo Vänskä.
Best Opera Recording went to Thomas Adès' The Tempest, conducted by the composer at the Metropolitan Opera, with Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, and Alan Oke.
Arvo Pärt's Adam’s Lament, the Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste, was named Best Choral Performance.
Best Chamber Music award went to Roomful Of Teeth by Brad Wells.
Evelyn Glennie won Best Classical Instrumental Solo in Corigliano's Conjurer, concerto for percussionist and string orchestra, with the Albany Symphony Orchestra.