The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) today announced the Awards for 2021. German soprano Edita Gruberova is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado is Artist of the Year, Turkish pianist Can Cakmur is Young Artist of the Year. The Discovery Award is awarded to 14-year-old German violinist Maya Wichert.

Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings is the Label of the Year. A Special Award is conferred to Drazen Domjanic, General Manager of the Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein as well as founder and Manager of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and to violinist Ingolf Turban.

The Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein is honouring violinist Marc Bouchkov and cellist Kian Soltani with the Orchestra Award. In the Audio and Video categories, 18 productions are awarded a prize.

Among the artists performing on the winning audio and video releases are

– instrumentalists Kristian Bezuidenhout, Lucas Debargue, Alban Gerhardt, Kirill Gerstein, Franziska Pietsch, Beatrice Rana, Svjatoslav Richter, Chouchane Siranossian, Josu de Solaun

– singers Stéphane Degout, Jodie Devos, Sabine Devieilhe, Sophie Junker, Emonela Jaho, Edgaras Montvidas

– conductors Thomas Adès, Riccardo Chailly, Pablo Heras-Casado, Dmitry Kitajenko, Louis Langrée, Andrea Marcon, Kirill Petrenko, Ivan Repusic, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, François-Xavier Roth

– ensembles Ensemble Diderot, Huelgas Ensemble, Venice Baroque Orchestra

– Berliner Philharmoniker, Freiburger Barockorchester, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Les Siècles, WDR Sinfonieorchester

ICMA President Remy Franck and Secretary General Nicola Cattò say: « The pandemic might only come into effect for recording companies during the next years. In 2020 the ICMA jury – 20 media from 16 countries – was able to choose nominations among a huge number of releases. As a result, ICMA is again able to present an outstanding international list of winners, with productions from 17 labels and 8 different countries. This proves again that the ICMA Jury has a global overview of the market and grants its annual awards to labels and musicians around the world who have proven outstanding performances in their specific field. We have often been told that ICMA Awards are very important and valuable for the industry as well as for the performers. We are happy that we may help to make outstanding recordings popular, especially in these difficult times where the musical life suffered so much. »