DG Wins Five Awards at OPUS KLASSIK 2021
Berlin, 11 October 2021. DG artists were honoured in 5 out of 25 categories at last night’s OPUS KLASSIK 2021 awards. The prestigious awards ceremony, hosted by actress and television presenter Désirée Nosbusch, was held at the Konzerthaus Berlin and featured performances from some of today’s finest classical artists, including prize-winners Daniil Trifonov and Daniel Hope.
Classical music’s breadth and diversity were reflected in the awards given. Daniil Trifonov received the Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano prize for Silver Age, his album of concertos and solo pieces by Prokofiev, Scriabin and Stravinsky, while global superstar Lang Lang appeared by videolink to accept the Bestseller of the Year award for his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Yuja Wang made it a hat trick for Deutsche Grammophon pianists, winning the Concerto Recording of the Year/Piano award as soloist in the world premiere recording of John Adams’s concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?.
Daniel Hope accepted the jury’s Special Achievement Award for his Hope@Home initiative. The award citation praised the violinist for the daily series of concerts he livestreamed on ARTE during lockdown, “making classical music tangible and available to a wider audience during the pandemic”.
Deutsche Grammophon’s run of OPUS KLASSIK success continued with the Editorial Achievement of the Year award for 450 Years Staatskapelle Berlin – Great Recordings, presented to Dr Detlef Giese, principal dramaturg at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and the label’s Director Heritage, Johannes Gleim.
“Art is created in both good and more challenging times,” comments Kleopatra Sofroniou, General Manager Classics at Deutsche Grammophon. “The outstanding achievements recognised at the OPUS KLASSIK 2021 awards appear even more impressive against the backdrop of the last twelve months. We’re especially proud of all the Deutsche Grammophon and other Universal Music artists who have won awards tonight.”
Frank Briegmann, Chairman & CEO Universal Music Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon: “Congratulations to all our award-winners! They’ve shown once again the extraordinary way in which artists are able to develop within the family of the three Universal Music classical labels – Deutsche Grammophon, Decca Classics and ECM – where, most importantly, they’re always given the opportunity to try out and implement new ideas. Despite their artistic diversity, they’re united by a love of music and a refusal to compromise when it comes to the quality of their recordings. We’re delighted to work with so many exceptional artists and to be able to make the classical world and the lives of all music lovers richer every day with their fantastic music. Congratulations also to the organisers of OPUS KLASSIK and especially to the host, Désirée Nosbusch, for making this evening a celebration of classical music.”
The OPUS KLASSIK is Germany’s most prestigious classical music prize. Designed to honour outstanding artists and recordings, it is awarded by the Verein zur Förderung der Klassischen Musik e.V. (Society for the Promotion of Classical Music), whose members are drawn from record labels, promoters, publishers and other representatives of the classical music world. The OPUS KLASSIK awards are decided by a jury of industry experts.
Tonight’s ceremony was broadcast at 22.15 (CET) by OPUS KLASSIK’s media partner ZDF.
Details of the award-winners:
1 | Daniil Trifonov
Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano
Silver Age
2 | Lang Lang
Bestseller of the Year
Bach: Goldberg Variations
3 | Yuja Wang
Concerto Recording of the Year/Piano
John Adams: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel
4 | Daniel Hope
Special Achievement Award
Hope@Home
5 | Detlef Giese & Johannes Gleim
Editorial Achievement of the Year
450 Years Staatskapelle Berlin – Great Recordings
