After the cancellation of the 2020 ICMA Award Ceremony, ICMA’s Jury member Franz Patay handed over the Label of the Year Award at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Pentatone’s Managing Director Simon M. Eder was there to receive the trophy, accompanied by the label’s violinist Arabella Steinbacher, and singers Anna Lucia Richter and Piotr Beczala. Read More →

After the cancellation of this year’s Award Ceremony in Seville, the ICMA Jury will either present (or has done it already) the trophies to some of the winners, but most of them are just sent by postal mail. Using over twenty cardboard boxes, 130 meters of tape and stickers, the awards were individually packed and are now on their way to the winners. ICMA President Remy Franck says: « It is definitely less work to present the trophies in an Award Ceremony. And much more inspiring! »

After the cancellation of this year’s ICMA Award Ceremony due to the pandemic, several Jury members undertook to present trophies to winners. So did Jury member Harri Kuusisaari (Rondo Classic Finland) for the trophy honouring Ondine’s production of Tchaikovsky’s sacred works with the Latvian Radio Choir, which was presented to Reijo Kiilunen, Managing Director of Ondine who said: « It is with great delight and honour that we picked up the ICMA Choral Music Award from jury member Harri Kuusisaari. There is always a particular pride and fulfilment in receiving the ICMA Award due to the fact that it is granted by important representatives of such a wide range of European key music media. Read More →

Paul Smaczny from the Leipzig based label Accentus was presented the ICMA trophy for the winning video production ‘Gidon Kremer – Finding your own voice’. The trophy was presented by ICMA Jury and Board member Martin Hoffmeister (MDR Klassik). Paul Smaczny said:  » Both Gidon Kremer and I as musician and producer are incredibly happy about this prestigious award. Had the gala and award ceremony in Seville not been cancelled due to the coronavirus, Gidon and I would have been there without question. Read More →

After the cancellation of the award ceremony and the gala concert, scheduled for April 30th at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, ICMA jury members are handing out the award to the winners personally, when possible: 2020 Young Artist of the Year, Erica Piccotti, had the opportunity to receive the trophy in the prestigious Teatro La Fenice, Venice, by ICMA Secretary General Nicola Cattò. Read More →

The Discovery Award winner from 2019, Eva Gevorgyan, has presented the most lovely birthday present for the tenth anniversary of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). You can see her in a video produced by our Jury member Radio Orpheus: https://youtu.be/DzLNwPFXpBg

Normally, at the Award Ceremony which was scheduled to be held in Seville today, 30 April, the Jury of the International Classical Music Awards would have announced the winner of the Recording of the Year Award, which is chosen among the winners of the various audio and video categories. Well, the Award Ceremony and the Gala Concert having been cancelled, the announcement is just made via the Internet. Read More →

Today, the 10^th ICMA Award Ceremony and Gala Concert was to take place in Seville. A microscopic virus prevented this. This should not let us to forget that we have winners in 2020, a brilliant list of outstanding artists and recordings. Moreover, the tenth anniversary is the occasion to think of all the winners we had since 2011. Ten years, that’s almost 300 Awards given to a broad spectrum of musicians from all genres, from the most well-known artists to the young ones who are at the very beginning of their career. Read More →

Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the most outstanding contemporary composers died this morning at the age of 86. Born in 1933 in Dębica, he started composing at the age of 8. He received several awards from ICMA, among them the Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 in Nantes. Here is an obituary written by ICMA President Remy Franck.