HarrisonParrott and Polyarts are delighted to announce that 24 artists have been nominated for the Opus Klassik 2021 Awards.

Christoph Koncz is nominated in four categories for his album Mozart’s Violin, recorded on the composer’s own violin: Instrumentalist, Young Artist, Audiovisual Music Production and Concert Production.

Trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary is nominated for Instrumentalist, Young Artist, and Classic Without Limits for her album Piazzolla Stories, released in celebration of the composer’s centenary year. 

Javier Perianes is nominated in the Instrumentalist category, Chamber Music and Solo Instrument categories for his album Cantilena recorded with Tabea Zimmermann, exploring 20^th and 21^st century Spanish and Latin American chamber music 

Alban Gerhardt is nominated for the Opus Klassik in the Instrumentalist category. His album Shostakovich: Cello Concertos released on Hyperion features the live recording of Cello Concerto No.1 in E flat Major and Cello Concerto No.2 in G Minor with WDR Sinfonieorchester and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Earlier this year Gerhardt has also been awarded the International Classical Music Award for this album. 

Romantique recorded by Les Vents Français, the all-star wind ensemble of which François Leleux is a part, is nominated in the Chamber Music, 19^th Century Music category. This recording presents works by August Klughardt, George Onslow and Louis Spohr to showcase the whole range of emotions in the 19^th century winds chamber repertoire.

Saxophonist Jess Gillam is nominated for three Opus Klassik Awards this year, besides nominations for recording of the year and a recurring nomination for the Instrumentalist category, she is also in the run for an award for Best Ensemble. This summer Jess will for the first time tour her Jess Gillam Ensemble – a group of her closest musician friends, performing brand new arrangements from her 2^nd album, performing concerts across England.

With a total of five nominations Paavo Järvi is standing out with his most recent recording successes. While his complete Franz Schmidt cycle, recorded with Frankfurt Radio Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon has been nominated for an award for Best Symphonic Recording, the latest disc with his own Estonian Festival Orchestra, featuring Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Mythos and recorded for Alpha, is in the run for Best Symphonic Recording and World’s First Recording of a New Piece. These two recordings have also gained him two Conductor of the Year nominations.

Pablo Heras-Casado’s recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Freiburger Barockorchester for Harmonia Mundi raised nominations for Conductor of the Year, Symphonic Recording — 18^th and 19^th centuries, and Choral Work Recording. The recording features singers Christiane Karg, Marianne Beate Kielland, Werner Güra and Florian Boesch in the last movement of the work. The album also includes Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, with Kristian Bezuidenhout on pianoforte.

Heras-Casado repeats last year’s nomination for Conductor of the Year, for his recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5, the first instalment in a series celebrating Beethoven, including the complete Piano Concerti and the Triple Concerto.

Bertrand Chamayou is nominated in three categories this year. For his solo piano album Good Night, released on Warner, he is nominated in the Instrumentalist category, as well as Solo Recording – Instrument and Klassik ohne Grenzen.

Nicolas Altstaedt has been nominated in the Chamber Music category with his chamber partners Antonio Pappano and Vilde Frang who appeared in Ian Bostridge’s album Beethoven: Songs and Folksongs.