Violinist, who performed at the ceremony, described the recording project as ‘a deeply edifying experience’
Violinist Nicola Benedetti has won the Grammy award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her album Fiddle Dance Suite, featuring premiere recordings of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto in D and Dance Suite for Violin Solo, both written for her. Benedetti collected the award at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday 26 January.
Benedetti performed Bye Bye Breakdown from Dance Suite at the awards ceremony. The last time a classical violin soloist played at the event was in 2009, when Hilary Hahn played the Preludio from Bach’s Violin Partita no.3 in E major, BWV 1006.
Conductor Cristian Măcelaru picked up an award for his contribution to the recording of Violin Concerto in D; Marsalis received a nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for the work.
The concerto was co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Ravinia, LA Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Benedetti performed the world premiere with the LSO under conductor James Gaffigan in London in November 2015.
After receiving her nomination, Benedetti had commented: ‘This recording project has been a deeply edifying experience for me and one I will always reflect on with immense gratitude. It has been a privilege to learn and perform these two inspired and unequivocal masterpieces, and to deepen my understanding of Wynton’s compositional language, cultural richness and philosophical insights. Long-form musical pieces are often described as a journey and this sure has been a rich and fascinating one.’
The Attacca Quartet received a nomination for Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance for their performance on composer Caroline Shaw’s album Orange, featuring six of Shaw’s works for string quartet. The composer also received a nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for the same album.
The live stream of the Premiere Ceremony will remain on grammy.com as video on demand for 90 days following the event.
Read: The Strad recording reviews: Nicola Benedetti and Wynton Marsalis
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