Menu Close
Jesús Rodríguez Lenin

Ondřej Adámek, Thomas Adès and Heinz Holliger, finalists of the International Classical Music Awards in the contemporary category.

The jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) has announced the names of the finalists in the sixteen categories of the 2023 edition. The winners will be announced on 18 January, while the gala concert by the National Music Forum Philharmonic Orchestra (Narodowe Forum Muzyki, also known as NFM) in Wroclaw, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, and the awards ceremony will be held on 21 April 2023 at the NFM Philharmonic Hall.

In the contemporary music category, the three finalist recordings are:

  • Ondřej Adámek: Musica Viva: Follow Me; Where Are You? released on the BR Klassik label, in which Sir Simon Rattle conducts German violinist Isabelle Faust, Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Munich, performing the first recorded versions of two pieces by Czech composer Ondřej Adámek (Prague, 1979), Follow Me, for violin and orchestra, and Where Are You? for mezzo-soprano and orchestra.
  • Thomas Adès: Märchentänze, Hotel Suite from Powder Her Face, Lieux retrouvé & Dawn, released on the Ondine label, in which British conductor Nicholas Collon conducts violinist Pekka Kuusisto, cellist Tomas Nuñez and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing four pieces by British composer Thomas Adès, Märchentänze, Lieux retrouvé, Dawn and Hotel Suite from “Powder Her Face”, the third suite from Powder Her Face, longer than Three-piece Suite from “Powder Her Face” (Suite No. 1), but shorter than Luxury Suite from “Powder Her Face” (Suite No. 2).
  • Lunea, Heinz Holliger’s second opera, published by ECM, in which the Swiss composer and conductor conducts his own work, performed by baritones Christian Gerhaher and Ivan Ludlow and sopranos Juliane Banse, Sarah Maria Sun and Annette Schönmüller, with the Zurich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Basel Madrigalists’ Choir.

In the category of video operas, the finalist recordings are:

  • Hans Abrahamsen’s The Snow Queen (Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings), with music director Cornelius Meister and stage director Andreas Kriegenburg conducting Barbara Hannigan, Rachael Wilson and Peter Rose and the Bavarian State Orchestra and Chorus.
  • Riccardo Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Naxos)
  • Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa (Opus Arte).