The 2019 JUNO Award Nominations have been announced today, with Toronto’s Gryphon Trio heading the list of 2019 Classical Music Juno Award nominees over two categories as the music industry gets ready to celebrate its own at the awards ceremony scheduled for March 17.
The Solo/Chamber classical album of year nominees includes an eclectic list of both familiar names and rising young talent with Ottawa’s Angela Hewitt (also named in 2018), Andrew Wan & Charles Richard-Hamelin, violinist Blake Pouliot (who landed the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s 2018 Career Development Award) and pianist Hsin-I Huang, as well as Toronto’s Gryphon Trio (nominated for two awards), and Montréal piano virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin.
You could call it a big year for women in the classical music composition category which includes composers Ana Sokolović, Bekah Simms, Cassandra Miller, and Nicole Lizée. Composer Vincent Ho returns for a second chance after last years nomination for his Arctic Symphony commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 2010 in the Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble category.
In the vocal category, there is a mix of choirs and soloists, with Choeur de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and the Elmer Iseler Singers, as well as sopranos: Barbara Hannigan, Joyce El-Khoury, and Miriam Khalil appearing on Against the Grain Theatre’s debut record on their new label.
In the large ensemble category, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra are all nominated alongside James Ehnes and Louis Lortie.
2018 Polaris Prize winner Jeremy Dutcher was also nominated for Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa in the Indigenous Music Album of the Year category.
Congratulations to all the nominees.
For a list of the complete nominations, visit here.
Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber
- Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 8: Andrew Wan & Charles Richard-Hamelin
- Scarlatti: Sonatas Vol.2: Angela Hewitt
- Ravel & Debussy: Sonates: Blake Pouliot with Hsin-I Huang
- The End of Flowers: Works by Clarke & Ravel: Gryphon Trio
- Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Flat Major D.960; Four Impromptus D.935: Marc-André Hamelin
Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble
- New Worlds: National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley
- Newton Howard & Kernis: Violin Concertos; Tovey: Stream of Limelight: James Ehnes with Seattle Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 4: Louis Lortie with BBC Philharmonic
- Into the Wonder: Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arthur Post with Gryphon Trio
- Vaughan Williams: Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian featuring Louis Lortie, Sarah Jeffrey, & Teng Li
Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral
- Vienna: Fin de siècle: Barbara Hannigan with Reinbert De Leeuw
- Bernstein: A Quiet Place: Choeur de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Conducted by Kent Nagano with Guest Soloists
- David Braid: Corona Divinae Misericordiae: Elmer Iseler Singers featuring Patricia O’Callaghan
- Écho: Joyce El-Khoury
- Ayre: Live: Miriam Khalil
Classical Composition of the Year
- Golden Slumbers Kiss your Eyes: Ana Sokolović
- Granitic: Bekah Simms
- About Bach: Cassandra Miller
- Katana of Choice: Nicole Lizée
- Arctic Symphony: Vincent Ho
The 2019 Juno Awards will be hosted by Sarah McLachlan, and the broadcast on CBC from Budweiser Gardens in London Ontario, Sunday, March 17, 2019, 8 p.m. ET.