Congratulations to Mahan Esfahani, EXAUDI and Héloïse Werner who have all had recordings nominated in the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2023 shortlist, and to Michael Mofidian who sings The Mandarin in the new Warner Classics studio recording of Puccini's complete Turandot conducted by Antonio Pappano, also nominated.
Mahan's album of 20th century Czech concertos by Hans Krása, Bohuslav Martinů, and Viktor Kalabis, with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Liebreich, was nominated in the Concerto category. Released on Hyperion in 2022, it was reviewed as “an unalloyed joy…If I encounter an album as good as this one this year I will be overjoyed” by Gramophone, and “Esfahani’s fingers never stop sparkling…Esfahani’s crusades for his instrument know no bounds” by The Times, and it was announced as the winner of the Opus Klassik Award for Concerto Recording of the Year.
EXAUDI's album of Christopher Fox's vocal music Trostlieder on Kairos is nominated in the Contemporary category. Released in 2022, this is EXAUDI's third album focusing on Fox's music. As described in Gramophone: "There is an expressive intensity ... helped by Exaudi's wonderfully blended voices ... The impeccable recording quality allows us to appreciate the fine detail."
Also nominated in the Contemporary Category is Héloïse's debut album Phrases on Delphian Records, released in 2022. Included in the Sunday Times 10 Best Classical Records of 2022, Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, Presto Classical Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Choral/Song Choice and Classical Album of the Week in the Times, this disc displays Héloïse's "extraordinary range, tone and vocal abilities...a composer of subtle imagination" (Gramophone) and was described by Apple Music as "a staggering debut from an imaginative and original voice."
The winners will be announced on October 4th, 2023.
