ICMA 2012 - The Winners

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards - ICMA announced the winners for 2012. "For our international and independent Jury musical quality is the only criterion for selection.  The winners come from a nomination list comprising 250 CD and DVD productions and are the expression of the highest  artistry. In a musical world showing an increasing number of recordings, our choice honors outstanding productions of superior quality and provides reliable guidance to the music lovers. The ICMA also include six awards to pay respect to exceptional musicians and producers," said Remy Franck, President of the Jury.

The renowned Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki wins the Lifetime Achievement Award; French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is Artist of the Year; German pianist Joseph Moog Young Artist of the Year; Ondine Label of the Year. A Special Achievement Award goes to the producer and re-recording engineer Ward Marston. The Classical Website Award goes to 'classicalplanet.com', an outstanding project coordinated by the Fundación Albéniz and offering musical content as well as a social networking platform for young musicians. Among the recipients of the Awards in the 14 CD and DVD, the Jury selected the ECM recording of piano works by Robert Schumann played by Andras Schiff  as Recording of the Year.

The winners will receive the ICMA Trophies during the annual Award Ceremony, taking place this year in Nantes, France, on May 15. This evening will also include a Gala Concert at La Cité, with the participation of ICMA winners and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire conducted by its music director John Axelrod. The concert will be broadcast by France Musique and numerous other radio stations of the European Broadcasting Union's worldwide network.

For the complete list of the 2012 ICMA Awards please click on 'Winners' in the menu bar.

Nantes se prépare pour les ICMA

Lors d'une grande conférence de presse le 7 février à Nantes, l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire et La Cité ont présenté la Cérémonie des Prix ICMA 2012 qui se tiendra à Nantes le 15 mai prochain.La remise des Prix aura lieu à 18h30 à l'Auditorium 800. Elle sera suivie à 20h30 du Concert de Gala dans le Grand auditorium de La Cité. John Axelrod dirigera l’Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire lors du concert retransmis en direct par France Musique et en différé par la radio MDR (Allemagne), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Radio Orpheus (Russie) et d'autres radios de l'Union Européenne des Radios."Le programme fait déjà rêver, dit Michel Ayroles, le directeur de 'Orchestre, "On entendra les lauréats e.a dans le Triple Concerto de Beethoven, le 3e Concerto pour piano de Prokofiev, la Sérénade de Penderecki et la Danse Macabre de Liszt. La Cérémonie des ICMA 2012 rassemblera, comme celle de Tampere en avril dernier, des interprètes habituels des plus généreuses affiches du monde de la musique classique, les gestionna

ires de labels, des représentants de l'industrie musicale ainsi que le public autour de l'excellence musicale."Il revint à John Axelrod de présenter le projet en détail et à Rémy Franck, Président des ICMA, à informer la presse au sujet des ICMA. Toutes les informations y relatives sont disponibles sur ce site Internet. Les noms des lauréats 2012 seront publiés ici-même le 20 février.
Pour assister à cette soirée exceptionnelle, on peut réserver ses places au: 02 51 25 29 29 ou les acheter en ligne sur: www.onpl.fr. Tarifs de 20 à 29€ (Tarifs abonnés ONPL: de 15 à 26€).

John Axelrod (à gauche) et Rémy Franck (Photo: ONPL)

Welcoming a new Jury member:  Andante (Turkey)

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announces a new member: Andante from Turkey, represented by its Editor-in-chief Serhan Bali. Founded in 2002, Andante is the first and only nationwide popular classical music magazine in Turkey. A dedicated monthly publication in its field, Andante informs the readers regularly about the national and international classical music events. Comprehensive interviews with the actors of the classical music world, in depth information about the classical music compositions, composers and artists, serious record and concert/opera reviews from all over the world takes place in every issue of Andante. Besides the main magazine and occasional supplementaries, Andante also publishes the regular bi-monthly 'Opera and Ballet Newsletter' for the State Opera and Ballet Company of Turkey. Relaunched in 2010, www.andante.com.tr is a very popular classical music portal in Turkish language. Andante magazine has been organizing the annual Giuseppe Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Turkey for three years.

Jury meeting in Moscow

Following an invitation of its member Radio Orpheus (Russia), the ICMA Jury recently held its annual winter meeting in Moscow. Main topics on the Agenda were the preparation of the next Award Ceremony in Nantes (May 2012) as well as the Rules and Regulations for the 2013 Awards. The R&R section of this website has been updated accordingly and shows all related information. Most notable is the creation of a new category (the 15th) for CD productions: Best Collection, a category allowing admittance for CDs comprising works of different genres (Examples: Concerto + chamber music or solo piece, symphonic music + choral works etc.).

The General Assembly also elected a new Board, confirming Michèle Debra (Crescendo, Belgium), Remy Franck (Pizzicato, Luxembourg), Martin Hoffmeister (MDR Figaro, Germany), Stephen Hastings (Musica, Italy) and choosing as a new member Pierre-Jean Tribot (ResMusica, France). Remy Franck was elected President of the Jury for another period of 3 years, until June 2015.
While being in Moscow, the Jury members had the opportunity to visit the Irina Arkhipova Foundation, the label Melodiya, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Bolchoi Theatre, receiving exhaustive information from the leaders of those major Russian institutions.

Jury members met  Rector Alexander Sokolov and Vice-Rector Alexander Bonduryansky from  Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow

Next Award Ceremonies to Take Place in Nantes and Milan

Less than one year after their first Award Ceremony with Gala Concert in Tampere/Finland, ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) are firmly established in the international musical life. The next Award Ceremonies will take place at Nantes international Congress Center La Cité (15t of May 2012) with the 'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire' and at Milan's Auditorium Fondazione Cariplo (18.03. 2013) with 'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi'. Both of the concerts will be conducted by internationally renowned conductor John Axelrod. Several winners of  the regular CD und DVD-categories as well as from the Special Awards will take part in those Gala Concerts. The winners 2012 will be published on the 20th of February. The list with the nominations is already available at this website.

Having closed its voting procedures for 2012 in December, the Jury will meet mid January for a General Assembly. On invitation by their Russian member Radio Orpheus it will take place in Moscow.

John Axelrod

Prestigious IMCA Showcase 2012 in Nantes

Preparation for the ICMA Gala Concert and the Award ceremony 2012 took a notable step with a meeting between the three major partners for this outstanding event on May 15th at La Cité in Nantes (France). La Cité's marketing director Corinne Denuet, Michel Ayroles, General Manager and John Axelrod, Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and ICMA's Jury President Remy Franck met on the spot to set up the key elements for the evening's organization.

The Award Ceremony will take place on the 15th of May at 18.30 at the Auditorium 800, followed at 20.30 by the Gala Concert at La Cité's main auditorium which seats 1.970 people. John Axelrod will conduct the concert, broadcast live by France Musique and in deferred mode by Radio MDR (Germany), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Radio Orpheus (Russia) and numerous other EBU radio stations. Winners of the ICMA 2012 will perform during that concert.

Highlights of the unique evening will be coming from Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto which will be heard as well as Penderecki's Sinfonietta and Liszt's Danse Macabre. The rest of the program will be known early in 2012.

For ICMA 2012 the world's finest musicians, label managers and representatives of the music industry will gather in Nantes to celebrate musical excellence.

More information about Nantes:
www.lacite-nantes.fr
www.onpl.fr

Michel Ayroles, Remy Franck, Corinne Denuet, John Axelrod (from left to right)

ICMA 2012: Jury is Working

ICMA awards 2012 are currently being prepared by the international Jury (see the list in the dedicated area).

All the Special Awards have already been fixed, and major steps for the Gala Concert in May 2012 in Nantes were taken along with the evening's music director John Axelrod.

The nomination process for the normal CD and DVD categories is the next tread, to be concluded early in November, before the voting procedure itself will be launched and terminated after three rounds in December.

The Gala concert in Nantes will be broadcast live by France Musique and offered to the entire EBU network, giving millions of listeners the opportunity to listen to the ICMA winners 2012 and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire which will host this major musical event of the next year.

Tremendous Success for ICMA Gala Concert in Tampere, Finland - ICMA 2012 to be Hosted by Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire Conducted by John Axelrod

Musicians and label representatives from all over the world came on April 6 to Tampere, Finland, for the annual Award Ceremony and Gala Concert of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), hosted by the Tampere Philharmonic and its Music director Hannu Lintu. In the Tampere Hall 1.600 people attended this outstanding event.

Lifetime Achievement Award winner Menahem Pressler played Mozart, Artist of the Year Esa Pekka Salonen conducted his work 'Helix', Young Artist of the Year David Kadouch was heard in Mendelssohn's Second Piano Concerto. One of the driving forces behind the BIS Sibelius Edition, Folke Gräsbeck, played, together with the strings of the Tampere Philharmonic, Sibelius' Piano Quintet in a newly realized transcription by the Tampere Philharmonic's composer in residence, Jouni Kaipainen.

The distinguished British pianist Philip Edward Fisher represented the Label of the Year, Chandos, playing Prokofiev's First Concerto. Hänssler Classics had asked Lena Neudauer, who won - together with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie - in ICMA's Concerto category, to play Schumann's Violin Fantasy.

This outstanding event, scheduled at Tampere Hall the 6th of April at 8 p.m., was broadcast live by the Finnish Radio, and is to be heard in the program of Germany's MDR Figaro, Saarländischer Rundfunk, Luxembourg's Radio 100,7, the Russian Orpheus Radio and many other partners of the European Broadcast Union's worldwide network.

During the Award Ceremony in Tampere, ICMA President Remy Franck announced that the next ICMA Award Ceremony and Gala Concert will take place in Nantes, France, on the 15th of May 2012, with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire conducted by John Axelrod.

The Winners of the International Classical Music Awards - ICMA 2011

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards - ICMA announced the winners for 2011 in 20 categories.

"Our international and independent Jury has selected the winners from a nomination list comprising over 500 CD and DVD productions and a wide range of artists and labels. Our winners are the expression of the highest  artistry and demonstrate that this Jury is a stubborn holdout for nonaligned value judgments in a world of low-common-denominator commercialism!" said Remy Franck, President of the Jury.

The renowned pianist and founder of the Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler, wins the Lifetime Achievement Award; composer and conductor Esa Pekka Salonen is Artist of the Year; French pianist David Kadouch Young Artist of the Year; Chandos Label of the Year. A Special Achievement Award goes to the label BIS for its complete Sibelius Edition, a landmark in that composer's discography. The Classical Website Award goes to the Digital Concert Hall, a tremendous initiative from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Awards of the 14 CD and DVD categories are shown in the winner section on this website. Among the recipients of those prices, the Jury selected the Harmonia Mundi recording of Mozart's Zauberflöte under the baton René Jacobs as Recording of the Year.

The winners will receive the ICMA Trophies during the annual Award Ceremony, which takes place this year in Tampere, Finland on April 6. This evening will also include a Gala Concert at Tampere Hall, with the participation of a number of the winners and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by its music director Hannu Lintu. The concert will be broadcast by Finnish Radio and numerous other radio stations of the European Broadcasting Union's worldwide network.

The International Classical Music Awards are the preeminent awards for classical music on an international level. The jury consists of professional music critics of the most important magazines, online services and radio stations: Crescendo (Belgium), Fono Forum (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), IMZ (Austria), MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Resmusica.com (France), Scherzo (Spain) and Viva Classica (Finland).