Amidst all the excellent recordings that received Grammy Awards this past weekend, an Ohio favorite ensemble took top honors in an important category.
Jeannette Sorrell and the always stellar Apollo's Fire took home the Grammy for their recording Songs of Orpheus featuring Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman, in Sulayman's solo recording debut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41stEqIvO2Y
How appropriate on this Valentine's week that the winner for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album is about love. Love, literally, to hell and back.
The story of Orpheus is one of desperation. When his beloved Eurydice dies, he follows her to the gates of Hades to try to bring her back to life.
These tales never end well, and Songs of Orpheus draws from music by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, including Giulio Caccini, Tarquinio Merula, Stefano Landi, Sigismondo d'India and Dario Castello.
Here's the list of all the 2019 classical Grammy winners:
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
Songs of Orpheus - Monteverdi, Caccini, d'India & Landi
Karim Sulayman; Jeannette Sorrell, conductor; Apollo's Fire, ensembles
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Orchestral Performance
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11
Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Opera Recording
Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
Michael Christie, conductor; Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson & Wei Wu; Elizabeth Ostrow, producer (The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Choral Performance
McLoskey: Zealot Canticles
Donald Nally, conductor (Doris Hall-Gulati, Rebecca Harris, Arlen Hlusko, Lorenzo Raval & Mandy Wolman; The Crossing)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Landfall
Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Kernis: Violin Concerto
James Ehnes; Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Classical Compendium
Fuchs: Piano Concerto 'Spiritualist;' Poems of Life; Glacier; Rush
JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Tim Handley, producer
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Kernis: Violin Concerto
Aaron Jay Kernis, composer (James Ehnes, Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11
Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra)
Find it: ArkivMusic | Amazon
Producer Of The Year, Classical
Blanton Alspaugh
