The International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) will begin organizing a new award, the ICMA Classeek Award, presented for the first time in 2023, when the ICMA Award Ceremony and Gala Concert take place at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland. This new category has been created in close collaboration with Classeek, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
« Nowadays the competition between young talented musicians is very strong. We believe that the best should also receive and benefit from the best possible support! This is a common goal of ICMA as well as of Classeek », said ICMA President Remy Franck. « We have therefore added this new award to the already existing categories. It allows us to annually promote a young, outstanding musician chosen from a list of the open application finalists of Classeek’s flagship Ambassador Programme for talented artists. With our independent jury of 19 music critics from 16 different countries, we hope to strengthen the recognition of the winning musician. We are thrilled to organize this new award in close cooperation with Classeek and to develop profitable synergies between both organizations. »
Catarina Amon from Classeek says: “We are thrilled to begin our collaboration with ICMA, with whom we feel an alliance of passion to support both the highest level of artistry in combination with the next generation of artists. We are proud to present this new Classeek award in the 2023-24 season, and have the artists in connection to our programme, nominated in association with ICMA.”
ABOUT CLASSEEK
At Classeek, we care to continuously innovate and refresh the image of classical music, whilst supporting and providing a platform for emerging artists. One of our main initiatives is our Ambassador Programme, a one-year career enhancement programme aiming to discover, support and promote promising young classical musicians. We endeavour to provide a tailored programme, providing opportunities for artists to find new audiences, grow their musical network, gain recognition, and provide necessary coaching to support the management of various career aspects of young artists.
ABOUT ICMA
The jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) annually presents the world’s only international record and music awards. With representatives of 19 media from 16 countries, the magazines Andante, Crescendo, Das Orchester, Musica, Musik & Theater, Musical Life, Opera, Papageno, Pizzicato, ResMusica, Rondo Classic and Scherzo, the radio stations Deutsche Welle, MDR-Klassik, Polskie Radio Chopin, Radio 100,7 and Radio Romania Muzical, the umbrella organization Unison-Croatia and the International Music and Media Center (IMZ), the ICMA reach an audience of millions.
The International Classical Music Awards evolved from the former MIDEM Classical Awards. Since then, the jury has become fully independent and larger and more international with new members. The strength and importance of ICMA today is quite extraordinary. There is no comparable organization in the entire music world.
Prizes are awarded annually in 16 audio and video categories (including Early Music, Baroque, Vocal, Symphonic, Contemporary…) as well as a number of special awards (Lifetime Achievement Award, Artist of the Year, Young Artist of the Year, Label of the Year….).
Each January, the winners of the prizes are announced in January, and a top-class selection of them takes part in the festive gala concert.
The first award ceremony was held in Tampere, Finland, in 2011 and was hosted by the Tampere Philharmonic. The 2012 gala was held in Nantes, with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. In 2013, the ICMA were hosted in Milan by the Orchestra laVerdi. The 2014 event was hosted by the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. In 2015, the ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. In 2015 it was hosted by the Euskadi Orchestra in San Sebastian, in 2017 by the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, in 2018 by the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Katowice, and in 2019 by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra at the KKL in Lucerne. The 2020 gala in Seville had been canceled due to the Corona crisis. In 2021 the Gala was hosted by the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra in Vaduz and in 2022 the Gala took place at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg. In 2023 the event will be hosted by NFM and the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic.
