Artists From Naxos of America Family of Distributed Labels Honored with 14 GRAMMY Nominations

New York, NY (Billboard Publicity Wire/PRWeb) December 8, 2007 -- The Recording Academy® honored Naxos recording artists today with 11 Grammy® Award nominations, the most of any classical music label this year.

The much-acclaimed recording of Joan Tower's Made in America featuring conductor Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, produced by Tim Handley, earned three nominations including Best Classical Album (award to Artists and Producer), Best Orchestral Performance (award to Conductor and Orchestra) and Best Classical Contemporary Composition (Award to Composer). Made in America began as an attempt by 65 small orchestras from around the United States to pool their resources to commission a new work by a major American composer. With the help of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Meet The Composer, and Ford Motor Company Fund, it became the phenomenon known as Ford Made in America, a project that brought Tower's piece to towns nationwide.

Additionally, conductor-composer José Serebrier and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra earned a Best Orchestral Performance nomination for their Naxos recording of Shostakovich's The Golden Age.

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly took home a nomination for Best Classical Vocal Performance for the Naxos recording of Elgar's Sea Pictures, Op. 37 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Simon Wright, conductor. A Best Choral Performance nomination went to chorus master Henryk Wojnarowski and conductor Antoni Wit for the Naxos recording of Penderecki's Symphony No. 7 "Seven Gates of Jerusalem" with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

Performers on two separate Naxos recordings are up for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance without Orchestra: Anastasia Khitruk for her performance of the Miklos Rózsa Violin Concerto, Op. 24, (Dimitry Yablonsky, conductor; Russian Philharmonic Orchestra); and pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti for her recording titled 20th Century Piano Sonatas.

In the Best Small Ensemble Performance category the Swiss Baroque Soloists received a nomination for the Naxos recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.

Blanton Alspaugh was nominated for Classical Producer of the Year for his work on the Naxos recording of Stephen Hartke's The Greater Good, and producers Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin were nominated for their work on 20th Century Piano Sonatas (Allison Brewster Franzetti, piano).

Naxos Of America Distributed Label Artists Nominated For Grammys®

Conductors Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs earned a Best Opera Performance nomination for the CPO recording of Jean Baptiste Lully's Thésée with the Boston Early Music Festival.

Violinist James Ehnes earned a nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra for his CBC Records recording of Violin Concertos by Barber, Korngold and Walton with Bramwell Tovey conducting the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Spanish composer Joan Albert Amargós earned a nomination in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition for Northern Concerto, featured on the Michala Petri recording Movements from the label OUR Music.

The 50th annual Grammy® Awards will be held February 10th, 2008 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Recordings

Naxos

Best Classical Album

Best Orchestral Performance

Best Classical Contemporary Composition

Joan Tower: Made in America; Tambor; Concerto for Orchestra

Nashville Symphony, Leonard Slatkin

8559328 (636943932827)

Best Orchestral Performance

Shostakovich: The Golden Age (Complete Ballet)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, José Serebrier

8570217-18 (747313021772)

Best Instrumental Soloist(S) Performance (With Orchestra)

Miklós Rózsa: Violin Concerto, Opus 24; Sinfonia Concertante, Opus 29

Anastasia Khitruk, violin;

Andrey Tchekmazov, cello; Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Yablonsky

8570350 (747313035076)

Best Instrumental Soloist(S) Performance (Without Orchestra)

20th Century Piano Sonatas

Allison Brewster Franzetti, piano

8570401 (747313040179)

Best Classical Vocal Performance

Edward Elgar: Sea Pictures, Op. 37

Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano; Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Simon Wright, conductor

8557710 (747313271023)

Best Choral Performance

Krzysztof Penderecki: Symphony No. 7 "Seven Gates of Jerusalem"

Warsaw National Philharmonic and Choir; Antoni Wit, conductor

8557766 (747313276622)

Best Small Ensemble Performance

J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

Swiss Baroque Soloists

8557755-56 (747313275526)

Producer Of The Year

Blanton Alspaugh: Stephen Hartke: The Greater Good (8669014-15) 730099691420

Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin: 20th Century Piano Sonatas (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (8570401) 747313040179

CPO

Best Opera Performance

Jean-Baptiste Lully: Thésée

Orchestra and Chorus of the Boston Early Music Festival

Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs

CPO 777240-2 (761203724024)

CBC

Best Instrumental Soloist(S) Performance (With Orchestra)

Barber/Walton/Korngold Violin Concertos

James Ehnes, violin; Vancouver Symphony, Bramwell Tovey, conductor

SMCD5241 (059582524121)

Our Music

Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Movements

Joan Albert Amargós: Northern Concerto

Michala Petri, recorders

6220531 (747313153169)

About Naxos And Naxos Of America

Since 1987, Naxos has redefined how classical music is presented and marketed. The innovative strategy of recording exciting new repertoire with exceptional talent has enabled the label to develop one of the largest and fastest growing catalogues of unduplicated repertoire available anywhere--currently over 3,500 active titles--with state-of-the-art sound and the consumer-friendly price of $8.99 per CD.

Naxos of America, the Leader in Independent Classical Music Distribution in the U.S., is the exclusive American distributor for Naxos, Marco Polo, Naïve, CPO, Dacapo, ATMA Classique, Canary Classics, CBC Records, First Edition, Medici Masters, PentaTone, Artek, Andante, Profil, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Arthaus DVD, BBC/Opus Arte DVD, TDK DVD, EuroArts DVD, Juxtapositions DVD, Naxos World, Naxos AudioBooks and Amadis record labels.

Naxos of America has two offices: a central headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee and a publicity office in New York City. Naxos of America is owned by the North American Classical Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Naxos Global Distribution.

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