Seattle Symphony wins two Grammy awards

The Recording Academy announced today that the Seattle Symphony’s recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Violin Concerto, performed by violinist James Ehnes and conducted by Ludovic Morlot, has won two Grammy Awards in the classical category. The Violin Concerto, which was commissioned and given its U.S. premiere by the Seattle Symphony, received Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Classical Instrumental Solo and Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Music Director Designate Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony were also nominated in the category of Best Orchestral Performance for their live recording of Carl Nielsen’s Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, on the Seattle Symphony Media label.

“Congratulations to Ludovic Morlot, James Ehnes and Aaron Jay Kernis for this exceptional new Violin Concerto, which was enthusiastically received from the first moment our audiences heard it in Benaroya Hall,” commented Seattle Symphony President and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan. 

“Congratulations also to our musicians and our recording engineer Dmitriy Lipay for this immaculate recording. Commissioning new music is one of the most important things we do, and it’s incredibly heartening to see the excitement about this new concerto extend to a Grammy win.”

Thiagarajan added, “This year our orchestra was also nominated for Best Orchestral Recording for the first installment in our Nielsen cycle with our Music Director Designate Thomas Dausgaard, and we are incredibly proud to have all of these projects recognized by the Recording Academy.”