The thirteenth Classic BRIT Awards took place at the Royal Albert Hall last night (October 2) - with nine winners crowned.
Presented by The BPI and hosted by Myleene Klass, the event saw performances Andrea Bocelli, the Cast of Phantom of the Opera and Nicola Benedetti - who saluted Lifetime Achievement winner John Williams with a performance of Schindler’s List. Meanwhile, Russell Watson who was joined by Amore and the Pageant Choir.
The night continued with performances from André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, guitarist Miloš Karadagli and the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by James Morgan with a medley of the work of John Williams.
The evening’s grand finale featured the debut Classic BRITs appearance from Gary Barlow - who took to the stage with Andrew Lloyd Webber to perform on two pianos for a special performance of Sing with The Military Wives Choir conducted by Gareth Malone.
John Williams was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement award. His body of film score epics was celebrated with a specially-commissioned medley that included Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Superman, ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was also presented with the Composer award for his two recent film scores: War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin.
Twenty year-old pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, became the youngest male recipient of a Classic BRIT Award winning the Critics’ Award.
Following his double award success at the Gramophone Awards, he was chosen by a panel of critics for his work and performance on the album Chopin/Liszt/Ravel, beating off competition from Sir Simon Rattle and Jií Blohlávek.
Nicola Benedetti, who is the UK’s most-nominated female having been nominated for a Classic BRIT Award eight times throughout her career, added the award for Female Artist to her 2008 Young British Classical Performer or Group Award. Accepting the honour for her album Italia, she took the opportunity to speak out against cutting arts funding.
The Military Wives Choir with Gareth Malone won the first ever award for Classic BRITs Single of the Year in Association with iTunes for the Paul Mealor-composed track Wherever You Are. Gareth Malone and the Military Wives Choir are the first group to be nominated for both a Classic BRIT Award and a BRIT Award. The 2011 Christmas number one raised over £500,000 for forces charities.
Miloš Karadagli’s album Latino won the Montenegrin classical guitarist the award for MasterCard Breakthrough Artist of The Year. His second album in as many years, the 29 year-old guitarist has been playing guitar since he was 8 years old. He signed to Deutsche Grammophon in 2010. The award was voted for by the Classic BRIT awards academy that is made up of over 400 members from within the music industry and media.
For the second time, Vasily Petrenko, the critically-acclaimed Russian conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was presented with the Male Artist award. The award recognised his work on five albums released over the past 18 months: Shostakovich/Symphony No. 1 & 3, Shostakovich/Symphony No. 6 & 12, Shostakovich/Symphony No. 2 & 15, Rachmaninov/Piano Concertos 1 & 4 and Rachmaninov/Symphony No. 3.
André Rieu & his Johann Strauss Orchestra won the award for Classic FM Album of the Year in Association with MasterCard for the second year running for the And The waltz Goes On. The album, featuring a new waltz by the Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, was released by Decca in 2011 and reached No.3 in the UK pop charts.
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s 20th Anniversary was marked with the presentation of the award for International Artist of the Year. Bocelli has released 22 albums and has sold over 75 million records worldwide. Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber presented the award.
The Classic BRIT Awards 2012 will be broadcast on ITV1 on 7 October at 10:15pm.
- WINNERS -
AWARD – Female Artist
WINNER – Nicola Benedetti ‘Italia’ – Decca
AWARD – MasterCard Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award
WINNER - Miloš Karadagli? ‘Latino’ – Deutsche Grammophon
AWARD – Composer
WINNER – John Williams ‘War Horse’, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ - Sony Classical
AWARD – International Artist of the Year
in Association with Raymond Weil
WINNER – Andrea Bocelli
AWARD – Critics’ Award
WINNER – Benjamin Grosvenor ‘Chopin/Liszt/Ravel’ – Decca
AWARD – Male Artist
WINNER – Vasily Petrenko
‘Shostakovich/Symphony No. 1 & 3’ – Naxos
‘Shostakovich/Symphony No. 6 & 12’ – Naxos
‘Shostakovich/Symphony No. 2 & 15’ – Naxos
‘Rachmaninov/Piano Concertos 1 & 4’ – Avie
‘Rachmaninov/Symphony No. 3’ – EMI Classics
AWARD – Classic BRITs Single of the Year In Association with iTunes
WINNER – Military Wives/Gareth Malone ‘Wherever You Are’ – Decca
AWARD – Lifetime Achievement Award
WINNER – John Williams
AWARD – Classic FM Album of the Year in Association with MasterCard
WINNER – André Rieu ‘And The Waltz Goes On’ - Decca
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