The Winners of the MIDEM Classical Awards 2010

The Winners of the MIDEM Classical Awards 2010

CANNES, France, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadcast live for the first time on the France Musique radio station, MIDEM's showcase classical evening - the MIDEM Classical Awards - took place last night in the Debussy Auditorium at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. The sixth edition, hosted by the British journalist James Jolly and the Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, saw awards going to 16 discs and three DVDs, chosen from 111 entries from international labels from 20 countries.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100108/NY34916LOGO )

Frederic Chopin and his native Poland were honoured to mark the bicentenary of the composer's birth with a live performance by the Sinfonietta Cracovia orchestra conducted by John Axelrod and the teenage prodigy pianist Jan Lisiecki, who brought the evening to a close with his brilliant and poetic interpretation of Chopin's Concerto No 1 for Piano in E minor. The jury of the MIDEM Classical Awards gave two special Chopin prizes, in collaboration with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. The Special Chopin Award- Best Ever was attributed to EMI's recording of Chopin's waltzes by Dinu Lipatti, while the Special Chopin Award - New Recordings went to Nikolai Demidenko for his disc of the composer's preludes, released by Onyx.

Another high-point of the MIDEM Classical Awards was the moving tribute to the Italian soprano Mirella Freni, whose dazzling career follows in the footsteps of the great cantatrices like Maria Callas and Christa Ludwig. The audience showed their appreciation with a rousing standing ovation as she received the Lifetime Achievement award from Paul Zilk, Chairman and CEO of Reed MIDEM.

The young clarinettist Jose Franch Ballester, voted revelation of the year, performed a magisterial Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra by Claude Debussy. The Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca and the German baritone Christian Gerhaher, voted respectively Female and Male Vocalist Artist of the Year, enchanted the audience with their interpretations of La Habanera by Georges Bizet and Gustav Mahler's lied Ich hab' ein gluhend Messer.

Another great voice resonated last night on stage at the Palais des Festivals, as contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux gave her rendition of the beautiful Chanson Triste by Henri Duparc. The celebrated King Singers, who won the DVD Concert award for their "Live at the BBC Proms" on Signum Records, interpreted Recipe of Love by Harry Connick Jr.

The MIDEM Classical Awards also bestowed prizes on some of the great figures of the classical music scene, including the conductors Bernhard Kontharsky, Jonathan Nott and Sylvain Cambreling, the pianist Ronald Brautigam, the viol player Jordi Savall, the sopranos Montserrat Figuerras and Sandrine Piau, the quartet Ebene, and Patrick Zelnik, founder and head of naïve, voted label of the year.

The sixth edition of the MIDEM Classical Awards, one of the highlights of the 44th MIDEM global music market, was once again distinguished by its dazzling artistic line-up and its prestigious list of award-winners.

   The winners of the MIDEM Classical Awards 2010    EARLY MUSIC    Jerusalem, La Ville des deux Paix - La Paix Celeste et la Paix Terrestre  

Montserrat Figueras, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Al-Darwish, Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall

   Alia Vox    BAROQUE MUSIC    Telemann - Brockes-Passion  

Birgitte Christensen, Lydia Teuscher, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Daniel Behle, Donat Havar, Johannes Weisser, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, Rene Jacobs

   Harmonia Mundi    VOCAL RECITALS    Handel - Between Heaven & Earth   Sandrine Piau, Accademia Bizantina, Stefano Montanari   Naive    CHORAL WORKS    Zimmermann - Requiem for a Young Poet  

Claudia Barainsky, David Pittman-Jennings, Lutz Lansemann, Michael Rotschopf, Jan Hage, Joao Rafael (Live Electronics), Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, Slovac Philharmonic Choir, EuropaChorAkademie, Eric Vloeimans Quintet, Holland Symfonia, Bernhard Kontarsky

   Cybele    OPERA    Shostakovich - The Nose  

Vladislav Sulimsky, Alexei Tanovitski, Tatiana Kravtsova, Andrei Popov, Sergei Semishkur, Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus, Valery Gergiev

   Mariinsky    SOLO INSTRUMENT    Paganini - 24 Capricci   Thomas Zehetmair   ECM    CHAMBER MUSIC    Ravel, Debussy, Faure - String Quartets   Quatuor Ebene   Virgin Classics    CONCERTOS    Beethoven - Piano Concertos WoO4 & No. 2   Ronald Brautigam, Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Parrott   BIS    SYMPHONIC WORKS    Mahler - Symphony No. 9   Bamberger Symphoniker, Jonathan Nott   Tudor    CONTEMPORARY MUSIC    Messiaen - The Works for Orchestra  

Roger Muraro, Yvonne Naef, EuropaChorAkademie, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sylvain Cambreling

   Hanssler Classic    FIRST RECORDING    Rigel - Symphonies   Concerto Koln   Berlin Classics    HISTORICAL    Friedrich Gulda - The Early Recordings   Friedrich Gulda, Klavier, RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Igor Markevitch   Audite    DVD: OPERA / BALLET    Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin  

Mariusz Kwiecien, Tatiana Monogarova, Margarita Mamsirova, Andrey Dunaev, Anatolij Kotscherga, The Bolshoi Theatre Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Chloe Perlemutter, Alexander Vedernikov

   Bel Air Classiques    DVD: CONCERTS    The King's Singers Live at the BBC Proms   Signum Records    DVD: DOCUMENTARIES    Sergiu Celibidache - You don't do anything - You let it evolve   A film by Jan Schmidt-Garre   Arthaus Musik    CLASSICAL DOWNLOAD    Classicsonline.com    OUTSTANDING YOUNG ARTIST (in cooperation with IAMA)    Jose Franch- Ballester    JURY NOMINATION    Bach- 6 solos   Sonatas & Partitas   Viktoria Mullova   Onyx    ARTIST OF THE YEAR - INSTRUMENTALIST    Angela Hewitt *   Piano (Canada)    ARTIST OF THE YEAR - FEMALE VOCALIST    Elina Garanca *   Mezzo soprano (Latvia)    ARTIST OF THE YEAR - MALE VOCALIST    Christian Gerhaher *   Baritone (Germany)    LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT    Mirella Freni *   Soprano (Italy)    LABEL OF THE YEAR    Naive Classique (France) *    RECORDING OF THE YEAR    Zimmermann - Requiem for a Young Poet  

Claudia Barainsky, David Pittman-Jennings, Lutz Lansemann, Michael Rotschopf, Jan Hage, Joao Rafael (Live Electronics), Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, Slovac Philharmonic Choir, EuropaChorAkademie, Eric Vloeimans Quintet, Holland Symfonia, Bernhard Kontarsky

   Cybele    SPECIAL CHOPIN AWARD - BEST EVER   (in cooperation with the National Chopin Institute Warsaw)   

Frederic Chopin: 14 Waltzes, Barcarolle, Nocturne in D flat, Mazurka in C sharp minor

   Dinu Lipatti, piano   EMI/Angel    SPECIAL CHOPIN AWARD - NEW RECORDING   (in cooperation with the National Chopin Institute Warsaw)    Frederic Chopin: 24 Preludes op. 28, Sonata No.3 in B minor, op.58   Nikolai Demidenko, piano   ONYX     Note to the editors:    ABOUT REED MIDEM   

Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is a leading organiser of professional, international tradeshows. Reed MIDEM events have established themselves as key dates in professional diaries. The company hosts MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries, MIDEM for music professionals, MIPIM, MIPIM Asia, MIPIM HORIZONS and MAPIC for the property and retail real estate sectors.

Reed Exhibitions is the world's leading events organiser, with over 470 events in 37 countries. In 2008 Reed brought together over seven million industry professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 38 fully staffed offices.

Reed organises a wide range of events, including exhibitions, conferences, congresses and meetings. Its portfolio of over 470 events serves 44 industry sectors, including: Aerospace & aviation, automobiles, broadcasting, building & construction, electronics, energy, oil & gas, engineering, manufacturing, environment, food service & hospitality, gifts, healthcare, interior design, IT & telecoms, jewellery, life science & pharmaceuticals, machinery, medical education, printing & graphics, property & real estate, security & safety, sports & recreation, travel.

For further information about Reed MIDEM visit www.reedmidem.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100108/NY34916LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: Reed MIDEM

CONTACT: Sequenza, Presse Classique & Jazz, Marianne GAUSSIAT, Classic &
Jazz Press Officer, Tel: +33 (0)1 45 43 77 58 ou +33 (0)6 62 49 35 30,
mgaussiat@sequenza-comprod.com, Julia GRANDFILS, Classic & Jazz Press Officer,
Tel : +33 (01)1 45 43 77 58 ou + 33 (0)6 84 25 83 18 ,
jgrandfils@sequenza-comprod.com; Reed MIDEM, Jane GARTON, Press Director, Tel:
+33 (0)1 41 90 44 39, jane.garton@reedmidem.com, Joanna KIRK, Press Officer,
Tel: +33 (0)1 41 90 45 82, joanna.kirk@reedmidem.com, or Philippe LE GALL,
Press Events Manager, Tel: +33 (0)1 41 90 46 48,
philippe.legall@reedmidem.com, Fax: +33 (0)1 41 90 67 24

Web Site: http://www.reedmidem.com/

---

Profile: International Entertainment