Gramophone reveals the 10 nominated ensembles for its 2022 Orchestra of the Year Award
Public voting opens today [10 June] at
For the fifth consecutive year, the Gramophone Classical Music Awards will be naming an Orchestra of the Year in 2022, the only one of its prestigious awards decided by the public.
Celebrating collaborative music-making at the highest level and reflecting the very best recording activity, previous winners have included the Minnesota Orchestra (2021), the Philadelphia Orchestra (2020), Hong Kong Philharmonic (2019) and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (2018).
The ten ensembles nominated in 2022 are:
Bayerisches Staatsorchester (Germany)
Budapest Festival Orchestra (Hungary)
Czech Philharmonic (Czech Republic)
The Hallé (UK)
Les Siècles (France)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Europe)
Oslo Philharmonic (Norway)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (USA)
Sinfonia of London (UK)
Vienna Philharmonic (Austria)
Nomination comes as a result of each ensemble impressing Gramophone’s editors and reviewers through its work on record, and all ten have released magnificent and often thought-provoking new albums over the past 12 months.
Voting opens at noon on Friday 10 June and remains live until 8am on Monday, September 7. Votes can be cast on Gramophone’s website – gramophone.co.uk/awards.
The Orchestra of the Year will be revealed on Tuesday, October 4 at the 2022 Gramophone Classical Music Awards, a glittering ceremony that will take place at London’s Grand Connaught Rooms.
To showcasethe nominees and support the voting process, Gramophone has created playlistsfor each ensemble, featuring recent recordings as well as classics from each ensemble’s deeper catalogue. There will also be a dynamic compilation playlist featuring all ten ensembles that will be updated through the summer and exclusively available to listen HERE.
Gramophone is also hosting a two-evening Orchestra of the Year Online Festival on July 29 and 30, featuring performances by the nominated ensembles in a programme that celebrates its individual style and character. The Festival will run on Gramophone’s Facebook and YouTube channels, as well as its website.
James Jolly, Editor-in-Chief of Gramophone says:
“This year’s list of ten orchestras, prompted primarily by their work on record, is very strong. Some partnerships are long established – like Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder and The Hallé or, our only period-instrument ensemble this year, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles. Others are relatively new – like Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic or Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic. But all demonstrate what happens when the chemistry between conductor and players is right. Then there’s the great Vienna Philharmonic which makes amazing music with a variety of truly world-class conductors. And we’ve a very new orchestra, John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London, created initially to make recordings – and what recordings they’ve been. So, we’re hoping our readers will enjoy listening to these terrific ensembles, and then making the crucial decision, and voting for just one.”