Classical music doesn’t typically grab the center spotlight at the Grammys — and this year’s awards, featuring big wins for Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga, proved no exception. But most of the classical artists and advocates recognized this year found ways to tap into a live current, culturally or politically, that belied the popular perception of this art form as something cloistered, remote or elite.
Early in the Grammy Premiere Ceremony, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, classical music scored a significant win in a general category, Best Music Film. The nominees included DEVO, a Netflix doc about the New Wave band, and Piece By Piece, a LEGO biography of Pharrell Williams, who later received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award during the main telecast. But the award went to Music by John Williams, a 2024 Disney+ documentary about the prolific film composer.
Williams, whose 99th birthday falls this coming Sunday, is probably the living orchestral composer with the broadest audience, considering the galactic reach of his filmography. (WRTI featured both a John Williams biography and a boxed set in our 2025 Gift Guide.) His work is popular, even populist, without pandering — and with this Grammy, Williams’ 27th, he also notched a new achievement for his friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg. As a producer of the film, Spielberg has his first Grammy, completing the final letter in his EGOT (for Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, Tonys).
The dynamic composer and music educator Gabriela Ortiz won several awards this year, and used each turn at the microphone to deliver prepared remarks. Her first such turn came when she accepted Best Classical Compendium Album for Ortiz: Yanga, a recording by Gustavo Dudamel with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Ortiz hails from Mexico City, and often incorporates folkloric elements in her work. This piece in particular draws inspiration from a fugitive slave leader in seventeenth-century New Spain (colonial Mexico). “Yanga is very close to my heart,” Ortiz explained from the stage. “It comes from my roots, from my memory, and a deep belief that music can carry history, dignity, and hope.”
She added: “I dedicate this award to music for reconnecting us with our roots and our deepest emotions, and for giving us a voice in the world.”
Maestro Dudamel wasn’t in attendance at the Grammys this year, but it’s probably no stretch to imagine that he might have used his time at the microphone to acknowledge his own roots in Venezuela — along with ongoing uncertainties due to United States involvement there.
Along similar lines, when Elaine Martone won Producer of the Year, Classical (her seventh win, and her third in a row), she thanked not only Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra but also the caregivers supporting her husband and herself. Divulging that she had a heart attack last summer, Martone said: “Without my neighbors and my friends, I would not be standing here.” Then she added: “We are the creators. Use your voice for good. We cannot let this insane regime continue. Please, please!”
The award for Best Engineered Album, Classical went to engineer Mike Tierney and mastering engineer Alan Silverman, for Cerrone: Don't Look Down, an album by Sandbox Percussion featuring music by Christopher Cerrone. “I want to thank everyone that supports living classical music,” said Tierney. “It’s still alive. We’re still here. Last but not least, abolish ICE. Thank you.”
When the award for Best Opera Recording was announced for Intelligence, featuring a Jake Heggie work performed by the Houston Grand Opera, conductor Kwamé Ryan took the stage along with singers including Janai Brugger and J'Nai Bridges. Ryan began his speech by thanking the Recording Academy. “And speaking for myself personally, as a Black conductor,” he added, “we’re a small demographic — but getting less so, one generation at a time, and moments like these could be so inspirational for the people who will follow.”
The Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andris Nelsons won two awards, including Best Orchestral Performance for Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie, featuring pianist Yuja Wang. (The concert featured on that album made our classical roundup of the Best of 2024.) Nelsons and the BSO also shared Best Classical Instrumental Solo with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, for Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos.
Best Contemporary instrumental Album, which is not strictly speaking a classical award, went to Brightside by ARKAI, the dynamic duo featured in a 2024 episode of Sunday Classical with Astral. (Don’t miss violinist Jonathan Miron and cellist Philip Sheegog playing a round of “What’s the Score?”)
Among the other winners were Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound, who took Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Donnacha Dennehy: Land Of Winter; and soprano Amanda Forsythe, who won Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias For Soprano, with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and conductor Paul O'Dette.
Finally, Gabriela Ortiz returned for the final two awards of the Premiere Ceremony — first winning Best Choral Performance for Yanga, and then Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Dzonot, another piece recorded with Dudamel and the L.A. Phil.
“Dzonot means cenote, the sacred underground water systems of the Mexican-Carribean,” Ortiz explained. “For the Ancient Mayans, cenotes were portals to the spiritual world and the source of life. Today, they remain essential ecosystems, providing fresh water and sustaining an extraordinary biodiversity. This piece is also a reflection on a painful contradiction. Places of deep historical, sacred, and ecological importance are being severely damaged by pollution and unchecked tourist development. Through music I wanted to honor their beauty and resilience, and at the same time raise awareness of what is at stake.”
