In the News
Classical Brit Awards:
Televised in the UK: ITV 1 on Sunday 7th May, 4.30pm
Repeated: ITV 1, Sunday 14th May, 11pm.
The Times, May 05, 2006
Trumpet player shines as fellow Brits are outplayed
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter
A WOMAN trumpeter was one of the few performers keeping the Brit in the Classical Brit awards last night as foreigners swept the board.
Alison Balsom, 27, who infiltrated the male-dominated world of brass players at
the age of 8 after she was inspired by Dizzie Gillespie, was one of three
British winners in a ceremony dominated by talent from America, Norway, Spain,
Germany and Italy.
She won the Young British Classical Performer prize, beating Nicola Benedetti, 18, from West Kilbride, Ayrshire, the violinist who became the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004.
Balsom studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. She recently signed a three-disc contract with EMI Classics and is on Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme.
Her reinterpretation of Bach's music won praise from The Times, which described her album Bach: Works for Trumpet as "gleaming but flexible". James MacMillan, a 46-year-old Scottish composer, won the Contemporary Music Award for Symphony No 3 'Silence'. The work, which was co-commissioned by the BBC, was criticised by The Times for not living up to its name.
Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh mezzo-soprano who quit her teaching job after signing a six-album deal, won Album of the Year for the second year in succession for Living a Dream. Singer of the Year, a new category that replaces the male and female artist awards, went to Andreas Scholl, a German countertenor, for Arias for Senesino.
The soundtrack prize was awarded to Dario Marianelli for his score for Pride & Prejudice, the Jane Austen adaptation starring Keira Knightley. The Takacs Quartet, based in America, won the Ensemble/ Orchestral Album of the Year award for Beethoven's Late String Quartets.
The Royal Opera House continued its good fortune when its chorus won the Critics' Award alongside Plácido Domingo and Antonio Pappano for Tristan and Isolde.
The Norweigian virtuoso pianist Leif Ove Andsnes was awarded Intrumentalist of the Year for his Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 and 2. Domingo, 65, whose interview with The Times is available as a podcast, was also given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Stars who turned out last night included Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who sang a new arrangement of In Paradisum written for her by Karl Jenkins. Other performers included Plácido Domingo, Vittorio Grigolo, Alison Balsom, John Rutter and Rolando Villazón.
The Classical Brits are sponsored by National Savings & Investments. The televised ceremony, hosted by Michael Parkinson, will be broadcast on Sunday at 5.45pm on ITV1.
THE AWARDS
Contemporary Music Award
James MacMillan, Symphony No 3 'Silence'
Singer of the Year Andreas Scholl, Arias for Senesino
Soundtrack/Musical Theatre Composer Award Dario Marianelli, Pride & Prejudice (performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the English Chamber Orchestra)
Ensemble/Orchestral Album
Takacs Quartet, Beethoven, The Late String Quartets
Critics' Award
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra/Plácido Domingo/Antonio Pappano, Tristan and Isolde
Young British Classical Performer
Alison Balsom
Instrumentalist
Leif Ove Andsnes, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 and 2
Album
Katherine Jenkins, Living a Dream
Lifetime Achievement Award
Plácido Domingo
Televised in the UK: ITV 1 on Sunday 7th May, 4.30pm
Repeated: ITV 1, Sunday 14th May, 11pm.
The Times, May 05, 2006
Trumpet player shines as fellow Brits are outplayed
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter
A WOMAN trumpeter was one of the few performers keeping the Brit in the Classical Brit awards last night as foreigners swept the board.
Alison Balsom holds her award as the Best Young British Classical performer at
the Brit Classical Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London Thursday May 4,
2006. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
She won the Young British Classical Performer prize, beating Nicola Benedetti, 18, from West Kilbride, Ayrshire, the violinist who became the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004.
Balsom studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. She recently signed a three-disc contract with EMI Classics and is on Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme.
Her reinterpretation of Bach's music won praise from The Times, which described her album Bach: Works for Trumpet as "gleaming but flexible". James MacMillan, a 46-year-old Scottish composer, won the Contemporary Music Award for Symphony No 3 'Silence'. The work, which was co-commissioned by the BBC, was criticised by The Times for not living up to its name.
Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh mezzo-soprano who quit her teaching job after signing a six-album deal, won Album of the Year for the second year in succession for Living a Dream. Singer of the Year, a new category that replaces the male and female artist awards, went to Andreas Scholl, a German countertenor, for Arias for Senesino.
The soundtrack prize was awarded to Dario Marianelli for his score for Pride & Prejudice, the Jane Austen adaptation starring Keira Knightley. The Takacs Quartet, based in America, won the Ensemble/ Orchestral Album of the Year award for Beethoven's Late String Quartets.
The Royal Opera House continued its good fortune when its chorus won the Critics' Award alongside Plácido Domingo and Antonio Pappano for Tristan and Isolde.
The Norweigian virtuoso pianist Leif Ove Andsnes was awarded Intrumentalist of the Year for his Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 and 2. Domingo, 65, whose interview with The Times is available as a podcast, was also given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Stars who turned out last night included Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who sang a new arrangement of In Paradisum written for her by Karl Jenkins. Other performers included Plácido Domingo, Vittorio Grigolo, Alison Balsom, John Rutter and Rolando Villazón.
The Classical Brits are sponsored by National Savings & Investments. The televised ceremony, hosted by Michael Parkinson, will be broadcast on Sunday at 5.45pm on ITV1.
THE AWARDS
Contemporary Music Award
James MacMillan, Symphony No 3 'Silence'
Singer of the Year Andreas Scholl, Arias for Senesino
Soundtrack/Musical Theatre Composer Award Dario Marianelli, Pride & Prejudice (performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the English Chamber Orchestra)
Ensemble/Orchestral Album
Takacs Quartet, Beethoven, The Late String Quartets
Critics' Award
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra/Plácido Domingo/Antonio Pappano, Tristan and Isolde
Young British Classical Performer
Alison Balsom
Instrumentalist
Leif Ove Andsnes, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 1 and 2
Album
Katherine Jenkins, Living a Dream
Lifetime Achievement Award
Plácido Domingo