2022 Gramophone Award Winners Announced

The 2022 Gramophone Award for Artist of the Year was presented to the Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan. This special award category has previously been won by such classical music luminaries as Sir Simon Rattle, Yo-Yo Ma and Cecilia Bartoli. Barbara Hannigan’s fruitful relationship with Alpha Classics began with the release of the Grammy Award-winning Crazy Girl Crazy; Vienna: fin de siècle with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, and two collaborations with Ludwig Orchestra, La Passione and Dance With Me, followed. Hannigan’s fifth recording for Alpha Classics, Sehnsucht (Live in Rotterdam), is released later this month.

Rising star Asmik Grigorian was the second Alpha Classics soprano to take home a Gramophone Award this year, receiving the Song Award for her album Dissonance, recorded with pianist Lukas Geniušas. The Lithuanian soprano transferred her triumphant stage success to the recording studio for an al- bum devoted to one of her favourite composers, Sergei Rachmaninov. This award-winning recording marks the first of many projects planned with the label, including two projects with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with Matthias Goerne and the Four Last Songs by Strauss.