String players victorious at the 2023 Gramophone Awards

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The winners of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards were revealed on 4 October 2023 in London, coinciding with Gramophone magazine’s centenary. The Awards celebrate exceptional recordings, artists and labels of the past year.

In a triumph for string players, violinist Stella Chen was named Young Artist of the Year, in recognition for her talent and promise for the future. The award reflected her rise after winning First Prize at the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Competition and recent recording Stella x Schubert on Platoon. Chen also performed at the ceremony, joining the London Mozart Players in Mozart’s Rondo in C, K373.

British violist Timothy Ridout won the Concerto Award for his recording of Elgar’s ‘Viola Concerto’ – an arrangement of the composer’s classic Cello Concerto for viola by Lionel Tertis – with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins on the Harmonia Mundi label.

The Chamber Award went to the Ebène Quartet and violist Antoine Tamestit for their recording of Mozart String Quintets, K515 & K516 on Erato. Nurit Stark took the Instrumental Award for Music for Solo Violin and Viola by Bartók. Eötvös. Ligeti. Veress on the BIS label. BIS was also named Label of the Year.

Sopranos took top honours, with Dame Felicity Lott taking the Lifetime Achievement Award and French soprano Véronique Gens named Artist of the Year. Gens also won the Voice and Ensemble category with her ‘Rivales’ recording with Sandrine Piau on Alpha.

Recording of Year went to Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Nielsen’s Symphonies Nos 4 & 5 on Deutsche Grammophon. The recording also won the Orchestral Award. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen won Orchestra of the Year, the only Award to be voted on by the public.

The full list of winners are as follows:

Full list of winners

Special Awards

RECORDING OF THE YEAR
NIELSEN Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (Deutsche Grammophon)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT (sponsored by the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts)
Dame Felicity Lott

ARTIST OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Raymond Weil)
Véronique Gens

YOUNG ARTIST OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Classic FM)
Stella Chen

ORCHESTRA OF THE YEAR (in association with Apple Music)
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

LABEL OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Stagecast)
BIS

CONCEPT ALBUM (in partnership with Nordoff & Robbins)
‘Battle Cry: She Speaks’
Helen Charlston; Toby Carr (Delphian)

Category Awards

CHAMBER (sponsored by Wigmore Hall)
MOZART String Quintets, K515 & K516
Quatuor Ebène; Antoine Tamestit (Erato)

CHORAL
CAGE Choral Works
Latvian Radio Choir / Sigvards Klava (Ondine)

CONCERTO (sponsored by Musicians’ Union)
ELGAR ‘Viola Concerto’
BLOCH Suite for Viola and Orchestra
Timothy Ridout; BBC Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins (Harmonia Mundi)

CONTEMPORARY (sponsored by PPL and PRS for Music)
LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI Sigla; Flounce; Sedecim
Sivan Magen; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Nicholas Collon (Ondine) 

EARLY MUSIC
DASER Polyphonic Masses
Huelgas Ensemble / Paul Van Nevel (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

INSTRUMENTAL
Bartók. Eötvös. Ligeti. Veress – Music for Solo Violin and Viola
Nurit Stark (BIS)

OPERA (sponsored by Mascarade Opera Foundation)
TIPPETT The Midsummer Marriage
Soloists; English National Opera Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir / Edward Gardner (LPO)

ORCHESTRAL (sponsored by Lark Music Insurance)
NIELSEN Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (Deutsche Grammophon)

PIANO (sponsored by Yamaha)
SZYMANOWSKI Piano Works
Krystian Zimerman (Deutsche Grammophon)

SONG (sponsored by Anderson Financial)
FAURÉ Complete Songs
Cyrille Dubois; Tristan Raës (Aparté)

VOICE AND ENSEMBLE (sponsored by medici.tv)
‘RIVALES’
Sandrine Piau; Véronique Gens; Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin (Alpha)