The BRIT Classic Awards 2003 - Show Programme

ROYAL ALBERT HALL 22nd MAY 2003
CLASSICALBRITS.CO.UK
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Performers
top to bottom:
Andrea Bocelli
Bond
Aled Jones
Cecilia Bartoli
Maxim Vengerov
Dominic Miller
Bryn Terfel
CONTENTS
04 Classical BRIT Awards Welcome,
the ECO and conductor Simon Wright
05 Katie Derham, classical passion
06 Cecilia Bartoli, pure class
07 Bryn Terfel, Welsh prince of song
08 Aled Jones, back at the top,
Bond, for your eyes only
09 Maxim Vengerov, breathtaking virtuosity
10 Dominic Miller, smooth classics,
Andrea Bocelli, heart-throb tenor
11 The BRIT School and The BRIT Trust
THE AWARDS
14 Female Artist of the Year
15 Male Artist of the Year
17 Album of the Year
19 Critics’ Award
21 Young British Classical Performer
22 Ensemble/Orchestral Album
23 Contemporary Music Award
AT-A-GLANCE GUIDE
24 The Classical BRIT Awards nominations in full
The Classical BRIT Awards 2003, whilst
astonishingly only in its fourth year has
become a major event in the UK music
calendar. With television audiences in excess
of three and a half
million, it has already
played host to some of
the greatest names in
Classical Music today,
such as Nigel Kennedy,
Sir Simon Rattle, Angela
Gheorghiu, Lesley
Garrett and Magdalena
Kozena, together with
some of the biggest
names in Classical crossover including Andrea
Bocelli, Russell Watson, Vanessa–Mae and
Bond. This year’s event has another incredible
line up. Wonderful performances in a magical
setting is the blue print for the Classical BRITs
and as the awards and the show grow, we
look forward to achieving new heights.
Rob Dickins
Classical BRIT Awards Chairman
classicalbrits.co.uk
The Classical BRIT Awards 2002
WATCH THE CLASSICAL BRIT AWARDS 2003
ITV ONE ON THE 1ST OF JUNE
WHAT’S ON
Introduced by your show host Katie Derham
Bond Performing
• Allegretto
Presentation
YOUNG BRITISH CLASSICAL
PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Andrea Bocelli Performing
• Aranjuez
• Ochi de Fata
Presentation
ENSEMBLE/ORCHESTRAL
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Dominic Miller Performing
• Albinoni Adagio
• Bach Mass in B Minor & Shape of my Heart
Presentation
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AWARD
Presentation
BEST SELLING CLASSICAL ALBUM
Cecilia Bartoli Performing
• Anch’il mar par che sommerga
INTERVAL
Maxim Vengerov Performing
• Les Rondes des Lutins
• Tzigane
Presentation
CRITICS’ AWARD
Presentation
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bryn Terfel Performance
• Shanandoh
Presentation
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Aled Jones Performing
• Vespera
• Pökarekare ana (Duet: Hayley Westernra)
Presentation
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Presentation
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION
TO CLASSICAL MUSIC
Andrea Bocelli & Bryn Terfel Performing
• Au fond du temple saint
FINALE: The English Chamber Orchestra
All performances subject to change
3

Welcome
Great artists from the classical world
have travelled from near and far to
the Royal Albert Hall tonight to create
what promises to be a sensational mix
of fine music making and thoroughly
compelling entertainment.
Conductors, singers, instrumentalists and
composers are all in the running for one
or more of the seven coveted Classical
BRIT Awards, with everyone from grandees
of the classical establishment to exciting
newcomers among the nominees. Diversity
and versatility have become essential
requirements for today’s classical stars,
practised across the board by artists who
once would have been expected to follow
narrow career paths. Sir Simon Rattle’s
innovative programming, Cecilia Bartoli’s
explorations of 18th-century rarities, Bryn
Terfel’s move into Broadway territory,
John Williams’ unforgettable Hollywood
soundtracks, and the boundary-crossing
work of Andrea Bocelli, Bond or Lesley
Garrett have placed the classics within
reach of a massive new audience. Above
all, tonight’s show proves beyond doubt
that first-class classical music is for the
many, not the few.
Lesley Garrett
ECO & Simon Wright
The sumptuous sound and rhythmic
energy at the heart of this year’s
Classical BRIT Awards comes courtesy
of the show’s resident band, the English
Chamber Orchestra.
Since last year’s awards, the orchestra has
performed in Provence, taken to Caribbean
waters on an idyllic music cruise in company
with top classical soloists, violist Yuri
Bashmet and cellist Steven Isserlis among
them, and appeared in concerts throughout
the UK with the likes of everybody’s
favourite early music soprano Emma Kirkby
and violin legend Igor Oistrakh.
Founded in 1960, the ECO has earned
a distinguished place in the history of
British music making, raising awareness
of neglected baroque masterpieces and
introducing important new works to the
classical repertoire. Sir Colin Davis, one of
tonight’s nominees, conducted the orchestra
on its first national tour in 1961. In the same
year, Benjamin Britten began an association
with the ECO that lasted until his death in
1976. Other key partnerships include those
in the 1970s with classical music’s golden
couple, Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel
Barenboim, and violinist Pinchas Zukerman.
In 1981 a television and radio audience,
estimated at one billion people, tuned in to
catch what must rank as the band’s biggest
gig, when they played at the wedding of The
Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
Sunderland-born Simon Wright, a
multi-talented former pupil of Manchester’s
Chetham’s School and Royal Northern
College of Music, takes on tonight’s
conducting duties. Simon’s northern musical
roots run deep. As a lad he worked as
accompanist with the Hallé Choir, learning
the conductor’s trade by watching Sir John
Barbirolli extract the last drops of passion
and energy from a chorus of seasoned
amateur singers. After college, he crossed
the Pennines to become organist at
Ampleforth Abbey, and has been Conductor
and Artistic Adviser of the Leeds Festival
Chorus since 1975. Prize-winning success
in the 1986 Leeds Conducting Competition
led to engagements with many of Britain’s
leading orchestras, the Philharmonia, BBC
Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,
English Northern Philharmonia and Northern
Sinfonia among them.
Simon Wright
4

ITV’s Katie Derham says that snobbery is a
thing of classical music’s past, and reveals why
she wouldn’t want to be a Classical BRIT judge.
“The most exciting night in a wonderful year
for classical music has arrived, lit by a starry
line-up of great artists and a thrilling show
at the Royal Albert Hall. This year’s Classical
BRIT Awards mark the amazing diversity
and sheer emotional power of the classics.
Tonight promises to be a fantastic evening of
performance, appreciation and celebration
– and I for one can’t wait to hear who has won
those coveted awards.
“Of course, nobody but the judges knows
which stars will walk up the red carpet to collect
one of this year’s eight awards – with categories
ranging from best female and best male artists
to outstanding achievement. Personally, I’ll
be watching the Album of the Year with the
keenest interest. This is the category voted for
by you, the public, as a genuine expression of
your passion for classical music.
“Pity the judges who have to choose winners
from the stunning array of talent on the shortlist of
nominations. Just reading their CVs and hearing
their nominated albums puts my head in a spin.
“I remember when I first hosted the Classical
BRIT Awards two years ago, it was possibly
one of the most terrifying jobs I’d ever done.
Standing in front of 4,000 people, an 80-piece
orchestra and artists such as Angela Gheorghiu,
Kennedy and Simon Rattle was a world away
from my usual working view of three cameras
and a floor manager!
“Last year I was able to relax and really enjoy
the host’s job. Meeting Andrea Bocelli, whose
CDs I find so incredibly moving, was a real high
point for me. This year, I’m looking forward to
hearing artists I have admired for many years,
Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel among them.
“I was about five when I was first sent to piano
lessons. Growing up, I was always taken to
classical concerts. And though it was de rigeur
to have Nik Kershaw on your wall, I always loved
playing – it was part of my social life. I was going
to go on to do a performing diploma after school,
but decided against it in favour of university.
“These days, I have music on at home all the
time. As an incurable romantic, I love real
girly music – Debussy, Chopin, Rachmaninov,
Tchaikovsky. Debussy’s Clair de lune is probably
the piano piece I love most, and emotional
pieces like Barber’s Adagio for Strings. It’s all
stuff to make me cry.
“Last September I became one of Classic FM’s
team of presenters, a job made in heaven for
me. I love radio and I love classical music, so
what better combination? Classic FM has done
an amazing job to bring classical music to a
wider audience, and that’s what is so special
about the Classical BRITs. There’s much less silly
snobbery now about classical music than there
used to be. It’s now okay to like Debussy as well
as Dido, Britten as well as Britney.
Katie Derham is the Media and Arts Editor
for ITV News.
Katie Derham

Cecilia Bartoli
A close encounter with the truth would
have scuppered the plot of Peter Shaffer’s
Amadeus, robbing stage and screen of a
ripping yarn about Mozart’s bitter and
twisted enemy, Antonio Salieri, and his
manic determination to drive his genius
rival to an early grave.
Cecilia Bartoli is set to extract much–maligned
Salieri’s myth from the successful reality of
his life this autumn with the release of an
album devoted to the Italian composer’s florid
operatic arias. “I chose to record the works
of Antonio Salieri as I believe he’s one of
the leading figures in the history of opera at
the end of the 18th century,” she explains.
“Unfortunately his name is associated more
with myth than music. And only very few of his
own compositions are performed nowadays.”
Bartoli fans worldwide can look forward
to the latest in a series of recordings in
which the captivating singer blasts centuries
of dusty neglect from the stage works of
composers known to posterity for a handful
of hits or, in Salieri’s case, for allegations of
murderous skullduggery. Her Vivaldi Album,
which topped the UK’s classical charts and
has racked up well over half a million sales
worldwide, crushed even expert judgements
that the Venetian musician’s operas were as
stagnant as the water in the Grand Canal.
She followed that with a massive restoration
job for Gluck, known to millions as composer
of Orfeo ed Euridice and precious little else.
Cecilia’s Grammy Award–winning album
of Gluck’s Italian arias dished up six world
premiere recordings from operas that were
once hugely popular but now rate, if at all, as
footnotes of musical history.
“The aim of the new recording, which is
based totally on Salieri’s own manuscripts, is
to give full recognition to a composer whose
vast creativity led to the most vivid portrayal
of human emotion in music,” says Cecilia.
Portraying vivid human emotions in music
has been a theme of the Bartoli career, from
nervous beginnings at age 19 on the Italian
television talent show Fantastico, through
early triumphs on stage and the release of her
1988 debut album of Rossini arias on Decca,
to her establishment as one of the planet’s
most popular and affecting classical artists.
The Cecilia Bartoli story begins with her
birth in Rome in 1966, the daughter of two
professional singers. Teenage passions drew
young Cecilia towards flamenco dance, which
became the focus of her creative energies
until mamma Silvana began to give her
16-year-old daughter voice lessons. Further
studies at Rome’s Conservatorio di Santa
Cecilia and the Fantastico experience helped
convince Cecilia that singing was her destiny.
The first big breakthrough came in 1987
when she appeared in a televised Maria Callas
memorial concert at the Paris Opéra. Bartoli’s
display of technical agility and onstage
charisma transmitted to the homes of top
conductors Herbert von Karajan and Daniel
Barenboim, who both offered work to the 21-
year-old mezzo–soprano. She swiftly became
associated with the music of Rossini’s operatic
heroines, capturing international attention
in 1990 with her Decca recording as Rosina
in The Barber of Seville, and also attracting
critical praise as a thrilling Mozart interpreter.
Since making her full stage debut as Rosina
with Houston Opera in 1993, Cecilia has
become a superstar in the United States.
She has topped the bill at the world’s leading
venues, New York’s Metropolitan Opera,
“What I try to do is to just listen
to my voice, because my voice
is my boss. She decides.”
Milan’s La Scala and the Salzburg Festival
among them. British audiences have also
been wowed by her increasing schedule of
appearances here, her debut in 2001 at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and her
work with London’s period–instrument band,
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In
October she will perform Salieri arias with the
OAE in Manchester, Birmingham and Dublin,
and is also set to return to Covent Garden for
a gala performance.
“I love to be in the grand productions,” says
Cecilia. “But what is important is for me is
variety. One has to find the music one loves.
The music that fits one’s temperament and
personality and speaks most to one’s heart.”
Don’t miss: The Vivaldi Album – over an hour of totally
amazing music, as colourful and rich as a Veronese painting or
a seafood platter from Antonio Carlucio, crowned by Cecilia’s
vocal virtuosity. (Decca 466 569-2)
Gluck Italian Arias – technical pyrotechnics and heart-melting
expression in full measure. (Decca 467 248-2)
www.ceciliabartolionline.com
6

Bryn Terfel
If captivity in the Tower of London could
be avoided, a healthy number of Bryn
Terfel’s countryfolk would vote for their
man to replace the present titleholder as
Prince of Wales.
The big bass–baritone’s welcome extends far
beyond the valleys to the mountains of his
beloved north Wales home, where he now
presides as director and star of the annual
Faenol Festival. “Whenever I hear music being
sung or played I react to it,” he explains. “From
the very beginning I loved music and reacted to
it strongly. Of course it was already in my blood
– it had been in my family for generations.”
The senior Terfels both sung, but never for
their suppers. Bryn reckons that his dad has
the best voice in the family, although his
commitment to running the ancestral farm
came before any idea of pursuing a singing
career. Parental support helped Bryn build
on his natural vocal talents, refined and
recognised in the late 1980s at London’s
Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The
Welsh capital played host to a highlight of
his early career, when he narrowly lost the
unforgettable Battle of the Baritones to
Russian contestant Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the
1989 Cardiff Singer of the World final. A year
later Bryn made his opera debut with Welsh
National Opera and was soon in demand at
prestigious venues overseas, from the Salzburg
Festival to New York’s Metropolitan Opera
and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
His star status was recognised at the inaugural
Classical BRIT Awards in 2000 when he
scooped the Male Artist of the Year Award.
Bryn’s rich voice and charismatic stage
presence have catapulted him to the top of
the international opera business and gained
an army of fans worldwide. In 1999 he sang
at the reopening of Covent Garden in the
title–role of Verdi’s Falstaff and also lifted the
spirits of spectators at the opening ceremony
of the Rugby Union World Cup in Cardiff’s
gleaming Millennium Stadium, in company with
Shirley Bassey and the Black Mountain Male
Voice Choir. The contrast in venues comes as
standard for an artist willing and able to cross
musical boundaries without affectation. His
record company, Deutsche Grammophon, plans
to make 2003 the year in which Bryn reaches a
vast new audience. All power to them.
Don’t miss: Under the Stars – Broadway and West End
show -stoppers performed with irresistible charm by
Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming.
(Decca 473 250–2)
www.terfel.com

Aled Jones
It takes special courage, and no
shortage of confidence, to exchange
life as the world’s favourite boy
soprano for a stint serving pints to
fellow students at music college.
Young Aled managed the transition
with distinction. As a superstar treble he
appeared in performance with the likes
of Leonard Bernstein and Dame Joan
Sutherland, and scored a huge Christmas
hit with his recording of Walking in the
Air from The Snowman.
Nature took her course and dealt Aled
the makings of an attractive high baritone
voice, nurtured at London’s Royal Academy
of Music and during postgraduate acting
studies at Bristol Old Vic. The experience of
bar work at the RAM proved invaluable after
college when Aled accepted gigs in south
London pubs. “I must have been mental,”
he recalls. Within years he progressed from
entertaining royalty and pop celebs – he
sang for The Queen and at Bob Geldof and
Paula Yates’s wedding – to serenading bar
room drunks. A few years later he landed
the title–role in Joseph and his Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat in Blackpool, where
he met his future wife at a photoshoot on
the north pier.
The Aled Jones story holds the makings
of a great movie script, although it comes
with few of the tantrums associated with
child stars, lacks the obligatory roles of
pushy parents, and includes tales of a
very grounded upbringing in the singer’s
Anglesey home town. Young Aled’s vocal
talents were ‘discovered’ while he was a
chorister in Beaumaris. He soon joined the
ranks of Bangor Cathedral Choir, attended
the local comprehensive and, thanks
to prize–winning performances in local
eisteddfods, attracted wider attention from
promoters and record companies. In 1985
Walking in the Air propelled Aled into the
Christmas pop chart’s top five.
At 32 Aled has found new fame as a Songs
of Praise presenter and host of his own
Sunday morning Classic FM show. Universal
Classics revived his recording career last
year with the release of Aled, which has
since registered gold album status thanks to
a programme rooted in the singer’s choral
background. A second disc is set for release
this autumn.
Don’t miss: Aled – the former boy soprano breaks into the
adult music world with a best-selling compilation of sacred
and traditional classics.
(Universal Classics 0644792)
www.aledjones.co.uk
Bond
Young, beautiful and gifted, Bond’s
corporate qualities have taken the
all–girl string quartet to the top of the
pop and crossover classical charts
throughout the world.
In 2000 they signed a five–disc deal with
Decca and set out on a mission to demolish
boundaries between classical and other
genres of music. Their debut disc, Born,
shot to Gold status within weeks of its UK
release, promptly caused apoplexy among
purist classical critics, and was banned from
the classical charts. But the group’s official
first performance, given in the Royal Albert
Hall in September 2000, attracted a capacity
crowd and suggested that their brand of
music making could touch the hearts of
millions. Bond also rocked the same venue
eight months later when they opened the
second Classical BRIT Awards show.
Violinists Haylie Ecker and Eos Chater,
violist Tania Davis and cellist Gay–Yee
Westerhoff can boast musical pedigrees to
rival those of the finest musicians of their
generation. First–class performance degrees,
postgraduate studies at London’s leading
conservatoires and broad experience
working as solo, chamber and orchestral
players distinguish the Bond girls’ career
progress. Thanks to entrepreneur and
producer Mel Bush, two irresistible albums
and ecstatically received tours of the UK,
the United States, the Far East, Germany
and elsewhere, Bond have become a hugely
influential part of modern musical life.
Bond’s second album, Shine, has followed in
the chart footsteps of its predecessor. “The
first album introduced us to the audience,”
says Tania Davis. “This time, we’ve been
much more involved at every stage of the
creative process, from conceiving album
ideas, composing and co–writing, through
to collaborating with the producers on the
final sound of the album. It’s more us, if you
like. It’s also an eclectic mix characterised
by so many different cultural influences
and musical styles with the classical string
quartet at its heart.” The girls’ work can be
heard on the soundtrack album of comedy
spy movie Johnny English, in which they also
make a cameo appearance. They’re back
off to Japan next month for a six–date tour
and will soon be seen in an ad campaign for
Thailand’s favourite beer!
Don’t miss: Shine – sassy, sexy stuff from the Bond girls,
including their hit title track.
(Decca 473 460–2)
www.bond–music.com
8

Maxim Vengerov
Musical wizard Maxim Vengerov is blessed
with talents that would seem miraculous
even among the inhabitants of Tolkein’s
Middle Earth.
The 28-year-old violinist can certainly
perform astonishing feats of magic on his
famous ‘Kreutzer’ Stradivarius fiddle. He’s
also known for his impish sense of humour
and an imagination that conjures up bizarre
scenes and events to match the mood
of the works in his broad repertoire. “It’s
like there’s a code and you have to find
the numbers to unlock the mystery of the
music,” he confides. Last year he bought
one of Michael Schumacher’s driving suits
and likes to imagine himself as a Formula
One ace. “What’s unbelievable is that it fits
me like a glove. Wearing it, you can’t do less
than 300 kph!”
Maxim’s technical and imaginative powers
placed him at the top of his profession at an
age when most kids are struggling to keep
up with their maths homework. He made his
London debut in the late 1980s at the Royal
Academy of Music, appearing in company
with Vadim Repin, another prodigy who has
since graduated to become a mature star of
the violin world. Young Maxim held his first
fiddle at the age of four and a half, taking
lessons in his western Siberian hometown
of Novosibirsk from the inspirational Zakhar
Bron, whose other pupils include Repin,
Chloë Hanslip and Daniel Hope. At age 10
Maxim was hailed as the natural successor to
legendary violinists Heifetz and Kreisler.
When he’s not on the concert touring circuit,
Maxim gives considerable time to his role as
UNICEF’s first classical Envoy for Music. Since
accepting the job in 1997, he has clocked
up countless air miles in extended visits
to Bosnia, Uganda, Thailand, New York’s
Harlem and South Africa, playing to young
victims of war, drug addiction and disease.
“I understood what miracles you can bring
back to children with music,” he observes.
“This is a universal language that everyone
understands. It goes from heart to heart.”
Maxim has made over 25 discs, now
recording exclusively for EMI Classics. Not
content to limit his horizons to the warhorses
of the violin literature, he has explored
performing on the gut–strung Baroque violin
and has also mastered playing the viola.
Don’t miss: Britten & Walton Concertos – breathtaking musical
brilliance and versatility from Vengerov on violin and viola.
(EMI Classics 5 57510 2).
www.maximvengerov.net

Dominic Miller
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, the
ten-year-old Dominic moved with his
family to Wisconsin in 1970.
He began guitar lessons five years later,
making rapid progress under the guidance
of Sabastio Tapajos. In the late 1970s
he enrolled at London’s Guildhall School
of Music, where he refined his classical
technique and explored other genres with
fellow students, Level 42’s Mike Lindup
among them. In 1989 he met producer
Hugh Padgham, who was about to work
on Phil Collins’ But Seriously album. The
guitar job was already taken. “I called up
Phil Collins’ studio about three or four times
in one week and said, ‘Look I really want to
play on your record’. And finally Hugh put
in a good word for me and Phil must have
decided to give this guy a break. I flew to
his studio and said, ‘If it works out, pay my
expenses. If it doesn’t, never mind.’”
Things worked out perfectly for Dominic.
Padgham and Collins opened the doors to
an audition with Sting, over 400 gigs with
the Geordie pop star and a career that has
included appearances live and on disc with
everyone from Nigel Kennedy, Pavarotti
and The Chieftains to Sheryl Crow, Rod
Stewart and Peter Gabriel. Dominic’s son,
Rufus, has followed in dad’s footsteps to
become a guitarist.
Dominic released his debut solo album, First
Touch, in 2000. “A lot of people wanted
me to do an album, and I wanted to, so I
tried all sort of things, from heavy rock to
pop songs. Then one day, it just suddenly
occurred to me that I’m here to play guitar,
so I started playing about six hours a day
and I came up with eleven songs.”
Don’t miss: Shapes – an elegant, often moving collection of
new interpretations of popular classics.
(Voiceprint DOM3CD)
www.dominicmiller.com
Andrea Bocelli
A drop or two of his father’s farm–fresh
Chianti Bocelli and plenty of Tuscan
sunshine clearly instilled a passionate heart
and emotional warmth in young Andrea,
whose early signs of musical talents led to
formal piano lessons from the age of six
and, later, saxophone and flute studies.
At 12 he lost his eyesight following a
footballing accident, but forged ahead with
his musical and academic work, developing
a profound love of opera and putting his
natural tenor voice to impressive use at family
gatherings. “I was one of those children
who would always be asked to sing for my
relatives,” he recalls. “Perhaps one shouldn’t
say ‘listen to me, I want to sing for you’, but if
people say ‘please sing for us’, well….”
People began calling on Andrea to sing
soon after he completed his law degree at
the University of Pisa. The peerless tenor
Franco Corelli readily agreed to coach the
singing lawyer, who underwrote his lessons by
performing at night in piano bars and clubs. In
1992 chart–topping Italian pop star Zucchero,
in search of a tenor to make a demo recording
of the duet Miserere, was blown away by the
Bocelli sound, invited him to lay down the
song and passed a copy of the finished tape
to Luciano Pavarotti. Andrea’s voice moved
his illustrious tenor colleague to spread the
news of Italy’s latest singing sensation.
International superstardom flowed Andrea’s
way with the 1997 release of Romanza,
which included the hit track with Sarah
Brightman, Time to Say Goodbye. That disc
alone sold over 15 million copies. Another
ten pop and classical releases have seen
Bocelli sales rise beyond the 45 million
mark, placing him in the premiere league
of recording artists. His second full–length
opera recording, in which he plays the
tormented hero Cavaradossi in Puccini’s
Tosca, has just appeared on the Decca label.
Meanwhile, his repertoire of onstage roles
continues to expand.
Last year he scooped the Classical BRIT
Award for his Outstanding Contribution to
Music, an accolade received with the singer’s
customary modesty. “I’ve never expected
something from life,” he observes. “When
I was young I used to say to my parents, ‘I
wish to be a good son’. When I married my
wife and had my two babies I told her, ‘I wish
to be a good husband and a good father’ To
my fans, I hope to be the right singer they
are looking for.”
Don’t miss: Tosca – Andrea takes the role of tragic painter
Cavaradossi in his second complete opera recording.
(Decca 473 710-2)
www.bocellionline.com
10

Quentin Clare
The BRIT School has been in existence
for just 11 years, created out of a unique
partnership between the Government
and the British Record Industry Trust.
It is still Britain’s only free Performing Arts
& Technology School for 14 to 19 year olds.
Fourteen year olds are admitted on the basis
of their commitment to a broad curriculum
and potential in their chosen arts area. The
picture at post–l6 focuses much more on
the students’ own strand, with most of the
curriculum time spent in one area – a choice
of music, dance, media, art and design,
musical theatre, theatre and production.
There are a number of successes in the
contemporary classical field emanating from
the BRIT School and to give you a flavour of
the talent, here are a couple of quotes by
two alumni of the BRIT School.
Monique Alcock, Age 22 – classical trained
flutist. Currently waiting on a place at Trinity
College of Music and supporting herself by
teaching flute at a primary school.
“As is common knowledge, the BRIT School
is predominantly ‘pop’ or commercial
musically orientated. If it was not for this
environment I may never have had the
courage to do the projects which I have
been involved in. As a classically trained
flautist I had to make myself versatile
enough so that I could fit into bands or
ensembles, standing there playing Mozart
was not going to be enough!”
Quentin Clare, Age 28 – conductor.
Recently Guest Conductor with Young
Sinfonia (March 2003) To follow Quentin’s
illustrious career, please view his website on
www.oneinabar.co.uk
“It’s ironic perhaps, that the only thing I
didn’t study at the BRIT school is the thing
I’m doing now – but what people don’t
realise is that it’s not about specifics; the
school gave me the broadest possible
education – from Movement classes to
Drama, Media, Law and Business skills – I
can’t think of another place where such a
disparate selection of studies would have
been possible! Although I wouldn’t have
known it at the time, these subjects have
formed the foundation of my work.”
Supporting young people in music and education
If you would like further information on the
BRIT School, please contact Arthur Boulton
on 020 8665 5242 or www.brit.croydon.sch.uk
or the BRIT Trust www.brittrust.co.uk please
contact Maggie Crowe on 020 7803 1302.

EXCLUSIVELY ON
Simon
RATTLE
“Saint Simon The Saviour
of Classical Music!”
FINANCIAL TIMES
NOMINATIONS:
Album of the Year
Orchestral Album of the Year
Male Artist of the Year
The Critics Award
557 3852
www.simonrattle.co.uk
Photo: Sheila Rock

Maxim
VENGEROV
EMI CLASSICS
“Our Artist of the Year 2002/3
is a violinist whose rise to
the top of his profession
has been as meteoric as
it has been well earned.”
GRAMOPHONE
557 1642
Photo: David Thompson
www.emiclassics.com

FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Two singers and a violinist are in the
running again this year, with stunning
Czech mezzo–soprano Magdalena
Kozena back in the nominations’ frame
in company with a brace of fresh names.
Members of the Classical BRIT Awards
voting academy have chosen three artists
who have touched the hearts of millions
thanks to the wholehearted passion and
eloquence of their music–making. Renée
Fleming’s soprano voice of spun gold has
taken her to the top of her profession.
But her recent debut as Violetta in Verdi’s
La Traviata and future engagements
in the role at New York’s Metropolitan
Opera prove that she’s not ready to
rest on past triumphs. Magdalena’s
musical intelligence and vocal allure have
secured her place in the company of
outstanding young singers. Meanwhile,
15-year-old fiddler Chloë Hanslip’s
stunning successes bear witness to
prodigious talent and expressive gifts
possessed by precious few artists.
Previous Winners
2002: Cecilia Bartoli
2001: Angela Gheorghiu
2000: Martha Argerich
Introduced by Katie
Derham, who presents two
hours of the greatest Classic
FM Music every Saturday
afternoon at 2pm.
Chloë Hanslip Magdalena Kozena Renée Fleming
Last year she wowed the Classical
BRIT audience with a typically vibrant
and impassioned performance of the
finale from Bruch’s most famous fiddle
concerto, capturing an army of new
fans in the process. A few months later
she celebrated her 15th birthday with
a concert at London’s chamber music
heaven, the Wigmore Hall, and the
release of a second album on Warner
Classics. The teen violinist has made a big
impression on the classical music scene
since she first beguiled Yehudi Menuhin
a decade ago, graduating along the way
from child prodigy to assured concert
artist. She may be young, but Chloë’s
technical wizardry and heartfelt music
making appeal directly to listeners of all
ages. Among her teachers and mentors
are Zakhar Bron, whose pupils include
Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, and
the legendary Ida Haendel.
“My Guarneri violin is one of my best
friends. For me it’s like a person: I have to
be careful with it and love it all the time.”
www.chloe–online.com
A hand accident diverted young
Magdalena away from piano studies
towards singing, one of those moments
of fate that quite literally changed the
course of her life. The Czech mezzosoprano,
who turns 30 next Monday,
bravely opted to sing Bach arias for her
first recording, which was sent as a dare
to the head of Deutsche Grammophon’s
early music label. He loved what he
heard, booked Kozena and introduced
her to such front–rank conductors as Marc
Minkowski and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
Award–winning discs, rave reviews and
debuts at the world’s most prestigious
classical venues have underlined her star
status. Albums of French arias, works
by Britten, Shostakovich and Ravel, and
music by members of the Bach family are
already in the can, evidence of the singer’s
refreshingly diverse musical tastes.
“I don’t like this diva stuff – expensive
cars, fur coats and all that. My image is
that I don’t want to have an image.”
www.deutschegrammophon.com
She has been described as ‘America’s
Beautiful Voice’, a billing that could
justifiably be extended with the addition
of the word ‘most’. Daughter of two voice
teachers, Renée recalls that childhood
dinner table discussions were dominated
by the art of singing. Nature and nurture
clearly figured in her development as
an artist, helped by graduate studies at
the Eastman School of Music and New
York’s renowned Juilliard School of Music.
During her student years, she sang jazz in
bars. Today Fleming’s brand of beautiful
song is in demand at the world’s greatest
opera houses, from New York’s Met and
London’s Covent Garden to La Scala in
Milan and the Vienna State Opera. Her
Decca album Bel Canto scooped this
year’s Grammy Award for Best Classical
Vocal Performance, adding yet another
coveted prize to her treasure chest of
record awards.
“A beautiful sound, no matter how well
produced, without expression and a
sense of text, of meaning, of words,
becomes very dull.”
www.reneefleming.com
Listen to: Bruch, Sarasate
– stunning performances of Bruch’s
most famous fiddle concerto and
other romantic works.
(Warner Classics 0927–45664–2)
Listen to: St Matthew Passion
– sublime singing from Kozena in
J.S. Bach’s masterpiece.
(Archiv 474 200–2)
Listen to: Bel Canto
– astonishing technique and
dramatic power reveal Renée
Fleming at her finest.
(Decca 467 101–2)
14

MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Previous Winners
2002: Sir Colin Davis
2001: Kennedy
2000: Bryn Terfel
Introduced by Jane Jones,
who presents Classic FM Most
Wanted every weekday at 11am,
Lunchtime Requests from Monday
to Friday from 12–2pm and Sunday
Requests from 9am–12noon
2002 was significant for all three
nominees. It was the year Sir Simon
Rattle officially took over as artistic
director and principal conductor of
the mighty Berliner Philharmoniker,
marking the beginning of his tenure
last September with performances of
Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and Asyla by
former Classical BRIT Award nominee
Thomas Adès. Sir Simon inspired
the Berlin Phil’s first ever education
programme, looking to the future with a
series of schools and community projects.
Education and the future of music are
subjects dear to Sir Colin Davis, who
marked his 75th birthday last September
with a gala concert at the helm of his
peerless band, the London Symphony
Orchestra. Andrea Bocelli stepped up his
commitment to opera and particularly
the works of Puccini, making his onstage
debut as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly
and making his second full opera
recording as Cavaradossi in Tosca.
Andrea Bocelli Sir Colin Davis Sir Simon Rattle
In a musical world obsessed with strict
conventions and neat labels, Andrea
Bocelli stands out as one of the great
boundary breakers. His multi-million selling
recordings have topped the classical
and pop charts worldwide, introducing
listeners of all tastes and backgrounds to
the thrill of the true Italian tenor sound.
Bocelli sales are fast approaching the 50
million mark, a phenomenon of record
industry life recognised with last year’s
Outstanding Contribution to Music Award
at the Classical BRIT Awards. The 44-yearold’s
live performance credits make equally
impressive reading, whether serenading
the Pope, singing amid the wreckage of
the World Trade Center or performing
opera in Verona’s ancient arena. The
tenor was ‘discovered’ in the early 1990s
by Luciano Pavarotti and Italian pop star
Zucchero. Bocelli has handsomely repaid
their early faith in his heaven-sent talents.
“I don’t think one really decides to be a
singer – other people decide it for you
by their reactions.”
www.bocellionline.com
Fans of the London Symphony
Orchestra have never had it so good,
thanks not least to the band’s principal
conductor. Sir Colin Davis is by common
consent enjoying an Indian summer in
performance and on disc. Two Grammys
came his way last year for his LSO Live
recording of Berlioz’s monumental opera
Les Troyens (‘The Trojans’). A young
family and a passion for education
have kept this venerable musical knight
– who celebrated his 75th birthday
last September with a gala concert at
the Barbican Centre – in close touch
with youth and the next generation of
performers. He has been a central figure
in British music since the late 1950s,
serving as music director of Sadler’s Wells
Opera and the Royal Opera before taking
up his current role with the LSO in 1995.
“The London Symphony Orchestra
is a wonderful instrument – it can do
anything you want.”
www.lso.org.uk
It’s a sign of refreshing times that Sir
Simon Rattle, chief conductor of the
illustrious Berliner Philharmoniker
since September 2002, also holds the
posts of principal guest conductor of
period–instrument outfit the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment and is artistic
adviser to the Birmingham Contemporary
Music Group. Wide musical tastes and a
commitment to excellence have marked
Rattle’s career ever since he won first
prize in the John Player International
Conducting Competition in 1974. Six years
later the Liverpudlian became principal
conductor of the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra and set about
transforming the Second City’s band into
a world–beater. He’s a regular presence at
the Glyndebourne Festival and the Royal
Opera House. In his new Berlin post, Sir
Simon Rattle has become one of Britain’s
great musical ambassadors.
“Culture is a necessity, almost a human
right. Unless we reach a young audience,
not only will we not survive, but we’re
also not doing our job.”
www.simonrattle.co.uk
Listen to: Sentimento
– ballads and songs echo a
more innocent age.
(Philips Classics 470 4220)
Listen to: Holst The Planets
– thrilling new interpretation
from a winning team.
(LSO Live LSO0029)
Listen to: Mahler Symphony No.5
– impassioned live recording from
Sir Simon’s historic Berlin concert.
(EMI Classics 5 57385 2)
15

Introduced by Henry Kelly,
who can be heard every
weekday morning on Classic
FM between 7am and 11am
Previous Winners
2002: Russell Watson “Encore”
2001: Russell Watson “The Voice”
2000: Andrea Bocelli “Sacred Arias”
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Mahler and Mercury rarely rub shoulders
in debates on classical music, although
both composers upended conventions
and introduced more than a touch of irony
into their greatest hits. Sir Simon Rattle’s
Berlin Mahler Five and Tolga Kashif’s
symphonic tribute to Queen are brought
together here by popular request. Two
tenors have been favoured as the people’s
choice since the birth of the Classical
BRIT Awards in 2000, with Andrea Bocelli
walking away with the inaugural prize
and Russell Watson bagging a pair with
awards in 2001 and 2002. Salford’s singing
wonder and UN goodwill ambassador
Russell could score a hat-trick of victories
this year, although he’s faced with stiff
competition from Andrea’s best-selling
Sentimento. Two sets of Planets, one
tried and tested, the other launched
last year with a big bang, are also in the
frame. And don’t bet against the People’s
Soprano, Lesley Garrett, topping the
Classic FM listeners’ poll.
www.aledjones.co.uk
(Universal Classics 064 479-2) (Decca 473 100-2)
(Sony Classical SK89916)
(EMI 5 57316 2)
(Naxos 8.555776) (EMI Classics 5 57395 2)
(EMI Classics 5 57385 2)
Aled Jones: Aled
It’s almost 16 years since Jones the Voice sang his
last notes as a boy treble. The former child star’s
latest album confirms that he has lost none of his
musical charm and gained a rich high baritone
voice. Aled topped the classical album chart and
entered the pop album Top 30.
OperaBabes: Beyond Imagination
‘One Fine Day’ could have been the classically
trained OperaBabes’ dearest wish while they
entertained tourists as buskers in rain-swept
Covent Garden Piazza. Last year the millions
following ITV’s World Cup coverage heard
Puccini’s famous Madame Butterfly aria as sung
by Karen England and Rebecca Knight, one of
15 tracks from their best–selling debut disc
Beyond Imagination.
www.operababes.com
The Planets: Classical Graffiti
Thanks to composer and producer Mike Batt’s bold
makeover of traditional classical values, The Planets
burst onto the musical horizon early last year and
promptly deposed Russell Watson from his recordbreaking
tenure at the top of the classical charts.
Classical Graffiti crossed musical boundaries with a
force that thrilled listeners and sent purists rushing
to the barricades.
www.theplanets.org.uk
Gustav Holst: The Planets Royal Scottish
National Orchestra/ David Lloyd-Jones
Holst’s astrology studies inspired the creation of
his most ambitious orchestral work, premiered at
a private performance in London in September
1918. The Planets has since become essential
symphonic repertory. David Lloyd-Jones and
the admirable RSNO explore deep beneath the
surface shine of each movement, helped by crystal
clear recorded sound.
www.rsno.org.uk
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No.5
Berliner Philharmoniker/ Sir Simon Rattle
Berlin’s Rattle era officially began last September
when the great British conductor led his new
band through the emotionally turbulent waters of
Mahler’s mighty Fifth Symphony. The rush-released
recorded results of his inaugural concerts as Artistic
Director and Principal Conductor of the Berliner
Philharmoniker preserve the sheer passion and
commitment of their collective music making.
www.berlin-philharmonic.com
Russell Watson: Reprise
Can the People’s Tenor score a hat-trick of wins
in the Album of the Year Category? His third disc,
Reprise, matches the mix of musical ingredients
that brought chart-topping success to previous
Watson releases. There’s everything here from
Neapolitan song to Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona,
with red-blooded Italian arias by Puccini and
Leoncavallo adding to the album’s hummability.
www.russellwatson.co.uk
Andrea Bocelli: Sentimento
London Symphony Orchestra/ Lorin Maazel
Last year’s Outstanding Contribution to Music
Award went to the Tuscan tenor, among the most
successful classical recording artists of all time.
Ballads and songs from the 20th century’s early
decades supply the passionate heart of Bocelli’s
Sentimento, with Lorin Maazel’s arrangements
and fiddle playing helping to evoke feelings of
tenderness, melancholy, joy and yearning.
www.bocellionline.com
Bond: Shine
Bond’s albums and performances have that
undeniable wow factor, carried over in spades
to their latest release, Shine. Fiddlers Haylie
and Eos, violist Tania, cellist Gay-Yee and
producer Mel Bush take the string quartet
medium to new creative areas with a succession
of dance-inspired tracks and classical favourites
dressed in fresh fashion.
www.bond-music.com
Tolga Kashif: The Queen Symphony
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ Tolga Kashif
Commissioned by EMI Classics and endorsed
by members of the band, Tolga Kashif’s
Queen Symphony presents a grand orchestral
tribute to the music of Freddie Mercury and his
legendary group. The sound-world recalls that
of Gladiator, with Queen hits transformed into a
vivid symphonic poem in six movements. Kashif’s
rich score manages to convince Queen fans
and classical buffs.
www.rpo.co.uk
Lesley Garrett: The Singer
For her latest release, Yorkshire songstress
Lesley Garrett turned to the arranging talents
of outstanding Turkish musician Tolga Kashif.
Their collaboration resulted in a programme of
folk favourites and popular classics, Jerusalem,
Scarborough Fair and Abide With Me among them.
www.lesleygarrett.co.uk
(Philips Classics 473 410-2)
(Decca 473 460-2)
(EMI 5 573403 2)
17

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Introduced by Lisa Duncombe,
presenter of Late Night Lisa on
Friday and Saturday evenings at
11pm, and one of the judges in
this category.
Previous Winners
2002: LSO/Davis “Berlioz, Les Troyens”
2001: Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle:
“Mahler, symphony no 10”
2000: Ian Bostridge, Accompanied By
Julius Drake, For ‘The English Songbook’
CRITICS’ AWARD
Last year’s choice of top disc defied
every rule of psychology by attracting
harmonious consensus from a roomful
of critics, a miracle explained by the
sheer brilliance of Sir Colin Davis’s LSO
recording of Berlioz’s monumental opera
Les Troyens. Normal critical service was
resumed this year, with ample debate
and diatribe served up between lunch
courses by six classical pundits. Their job
was complicated not by any shortage
of recordings to compare with the 2002
winner; rather, the list of eligible albums
contained dozens of titles blessed with
what it takes to make an outstanding
listening experience. Three discs finally
emerged from the field, spanning more
than three centuries of music history.
These are ‘must have’ discs for any
classical collection, strong enough to
exhaust the repertoire of superlatives
available to six critics, and certainly
guaranteed to uplift and inspire.
Bachiana:
Music by the Bach Family
Sherlock Holmes would have been proud
to put his name to the detective work
behind this album of works by Johann
Sebastian Bach and his immediate
ancestors. Two Harvard professors,
convinced that important manuscripts
belonging to Berlin’s Singakademie had
been spirited away by the Red Army at
the end of the Second World War, finally
tracked down the priceless collection
under lock and key in the Ukrainian State
Archive in Kiev. Over 5000 manuscripts
were retrieved from the library, offering
many unique insights into the music of
the Prussian court and the Bach family.
Music Antiqua Köln’s performances
bring the painstaking investigations of
post–Cold War scholarship to irresistible
musical life, revealing the vivid expression
and power of compositions from the
second half of the seventeenth century.
Thrilling music making is here set in
fascinating historical context.
www.universalclassics.com
Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel
(Archiv 471 150–2)
BPO/Sir Simon Rattle:
Mahler Symphony No.5
The Austrian countryside’s natural beauty
influenced Mahler’s first thoughts on
his Fifth Symphony. A few months after
beginning the work in the summer
of 1901, the composer fell madly in
love with the strikingly beautiful Alma
Schindler. His new passion surfaced
throughout the symphony, adding
autobiographical elements to the work’s
five–movement structure. Emotional
extremes lie at the heart of Mahler’s
writing, with profound sadness and
joy set in sharp contrast. When Mahler
met Siegmund Freud in 1910, the
psychoanalyst extracted a painful
childhood story from his new subject in
which the composer recalled running
from a bitter row between his parents
and confronting a hurdy-gurdy player
grinding out a cheerful tune. High
tragedy and light amusement, observed
Freud, consequently became linked
in Mahler’s mind. Sir Simon Rattle’s
interpretation spotlights the Fifth
Symphony’s life-enhancing conflicts
and contradictions.
www.berlin-philharmonic.com
Berliner Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle
(EMI Classics 5 57385 2)
Murray Perahia:
Chopin Études Opus 10,Opus 25
Try moving the ring and little fingers
of both hands consecutively at speed,
then imagine the level of skill, muscle
control and finesse required to play
anything more than a simple piano piece
with those four digits alone. Chopin set
the ultimate challenge for all concert
pianists in his Études or Studies, including
whistle–stop music written for the fourth
and fifth fingers, passages requiring huge
tonal contrasts, others calling for the
swiftest imaginable finger speeds, and
page after page of fast and furious scales
and arpeggios. Murray Perahia ascends
the pianist’s equivalent of Mount Everest
with breathtaking technical certainty in his
recording of the twenty-four Études. But
his approach puts technique at the service
of music making and, above all, taps in
to the Polish temperament and Slavic
passion at the heart of Chopin’s writing.
www.murrayperahia.com
Murray Perahia
(Sony Classical SK 61885)
19

YOUNG BRITISH CLASSICAL PERFORMER
Previous Winners
2002: Guy Johnston
2001: Freddy Kempf
2000: Daniel Harding
Introduced by Mark
Goodier, who counts down
the Official Classic FM Chart
every Saturday morning
from 9am to 12 noon.
Musical prodigies were in business
long before Mozart was a boy. Cardinal
Wolsey paid top groat to secure the best
choristers for his new Oxford college,
while other potentates were prepared
to kidnap musically gifted children to
guarantee courtly harmony. The nominees
for this year’s young performer award
have been spared the dodgy deals and
circus–act presentations that blighted
the childhoods of many past greats.
But they have grown as artists at a time
when the young are expected to deliver
standards of performance way beyond
the levels set even a generation ago.
Dazzling technical feats are not enough
to turn ears and establish lasting careers
these days. Artistic insight and the ability
to communicate with eloquence and
meaning – infinitely harder to develop
than flawless finger or stick work – are
required to distinguish the best among
talented newcomers, qualities shared in
spades by all three nominees.
Chloë Hanslip Colin Currie Paul Lewis
Most two year olds struggle to make
more than a mess with Stickle Bricks and
Play–Doh. The infant Chloë got to grips
with her first violin, a suitably miniature
instrument, not long after learning
the rudiments of speech, managed to
extract a tune and rapidly discovered a
natural affinity for music. By the age of
five, she had played for and beguiled
former child prodigy and fiddle–playing
superstar Yehudi Menuhin. Three years
later she made her debut at New York’s
Carnegie Hall, classical music’s equivalent
of Old Trafford or the Nou Camp, and
first appeared at the Royal Albert Hall
within months of her tenth birthday.
Her international career has flourished
since, especially so since the release of
high–profile discs accompanied by the
London Symphony Orchestra. Now 15,
Chloë ranks among the most exciting
musical talents of her generation.
www.chloe–online.com
Edinburgh–born percussionist Colin hit
the musical headlines in 1992 at the
age of 15, when he won the coveted
Gold Medal of the Shell/London
Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship.
Two years later he became the first
percussion finalist in the BBC Young
Musician of the Year competition. His
sensational televised performance
of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for
Percussion spotlighted the versatility
and variety of the percussionist’s art,
qualities he has since exploited in a
series of commissions, world premiere
performances and breathtaking recital
programmes. Colin has pioneered new
concertos by Michael Torke, Joe Duddell
and David Sawer, meanwhile clocking up
over 50 performances and one recording
of James Macmillan’s concerto Veni,
Veni Emmanuel. In 2001 he received
the Royal Philharmonic Society’s
Young Artist Award for his outstanding
contribution to innovative music–making
in Millennium year.
Paul’s rising star status was confirmed
in January when he scooped the South
Bank Show Classical Music Award for
his performances of Schubert’s Piano
Sonatas given last summer in London,
Birmingham, Southampton, Edinburgh
and France. The 29-year-old musician
beat off stiff competition from Sir Colin
Davis and composer Oliver Knussen,
veterans of the classical world. His
eloquent keyboard playing captured
audience hearts and minds when he
won the 1994 World Piano Competition,
and persuaded piano makers Steinway
to appoint him as the company’s
1000th registered artist. Early studies
at Manchester’s Chetham’s School of
Music and later at the Guildhall School
of Music were supplemented by private
coaching from legendary Austrian pianist
Alfred Brendel. Paul is now in demand
at the world’s leading venues as soloist
and chamber music player, recently
returning from a tour of New Zealand
and Australia.
Listen to: Bruch – Violin
Concertos 1 & 3 – mature, truly
virtuosic playing of familiar and
little–known masterpieces
(Warner Classics 0927–45664–2)
Listen to: Striking a Balance
– a hot addition to EMI’s Debut
series, proving that percussion’s
expressive range reaches far
beyond crash, bang and wallop.
(EMI Classics CDZ 5 72267 2)
Listen to: Schubert, The Last
Sonatas – supremely beautiful
and profoundly moving
interpretations of two of the
most poetic works in the
pianist’s repertory.
(Harmonia Mundi HMC 901800)
21

ENSEMBLE/ORCHESTRAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Few musicians have drawn such affection
and respect from their colleagues as
Mstislav Rostropovich, universally known
by the nickname, Slava (‘Glory’ in his
native Russian). His personal connections
with Shostakovich and tragi–comic
experiences of the old Soviet regime give
an authority to his London Symphony
Orchestra recording of the composer’s
Eleventh Symphony that may never be
matched. Sir Simon Rattle’s vision of
Mahler Five also ranks high on the list of
recorded interpretations, its elemental
energy intensified thanks to the special
chemistry between the conductor and his
Berlin band. And David Lloyd–Jones in
his work with Scotland’s finest underlines
why there’s no substitute for experience
when it comes to breathing fresh life into
even the most familiar of masterpieces.
Introduced by John Brunning,
the voice of Classic Newsnight
weekday evenings at 6.30pm
and Smooth Classics at Seven,
each night from 7pm to 9pm on
Classic FM
Previous Winners
2002: London Symphony Orchestra/Richard Hickox
“Vaughan Williams, A London Symphony”
2001: Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle
“Mahler, symphony no. 10”
2000: The Choir Of Kings College Cambridge,
Stephen Cleobury “Rachmaninov’s Vespers”
LSO/Mstislav Rostropovich:
Shostakovich Symphony No.11
Each movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s
monumental Eleventh Symphony
bears a title inspired by the 1905
Russian Revolution and the infamous
‘Bloody Sunday’ when peaceful
protesters were fired upon by troops
outside St Petersburg’s Winter
Palace. Over 100 people were killed
and many others wounded. The
massacre’s dreadful outcome is vividly
represented in the symphony’s second
movement; elsewhere, the composer
introduced revolutionary songs into
his harsh, unnerving and defiant
work. Rostropovich’s close friendship
with Shostakovich (1906–1975) and
personal experiences as an artist under
the Soviet regime inform his latest
interpretation of the Eleventh Symphony,
a live recording of genuinely historic
significance. The legendary Russian
musician, who celebrated his 75th
birthday five days after this critically
acclaimed performance, here reveals the
symphony’s troubled emotional world
with total conviction, his vision realised
fully by the LSO on world–class form.
www.lso.co.uk
London Symphony Orchestra/Mstislav Rostropovich
(LSO Live LSO00030)
BPO/Sir Simon Rattle:
Mahler Symphony No.5
Perhaps more than any other great
composer, Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
addressed questions of the meaning
of life, death and the human condition
in his richly romantic music. One of 14
children and the first of only six siblings
to survive infancy, Mahler’s early musical
experiences were supplied by the military
bands and folk–singers who passed his
father’s inn. Echoes of those open–air
performances sound throughout the
composer’s Fifth Symphony, which
begins with a tragic funeral march. The
work’s famous Adagietto, performed
at the funeral service for President
John F. Kennedy and expertly recycled
by Visconti in his film Death in Venice,
was originally conceived as a song of
love for Mahler’s beautiful young wife,
Alma. Rattle’s sensational recording was
forged in the white heat of his inaugural
performances as principal conductor of
the mighty Berliner Philharmoniker.
www.berlin–philharmonic.com
Berliner Philharmoniker Orchesa /Sir Simon Rattle
(EMI Classics 5 57385 2)
RSNO/David Lloyd–Jones:
Holst The Planets
Ancient Sanskrit, writings by the early
20th–century equivalent of astrologer
Russell Grant and Schoenberg’s Five
Orchestral Pieces fuelled Gustav Holst’s
creative imagination in the making of
his majestic The Planets. In 1914 Holst
(1874–1934) began to craft a suite of
‘mood pictures’ inspired by the seven
so–called primary planets then known
to science Pluto – The Renewer was
not discovered until 1930! German
prisoners of war may have helped copy
the parts for the work’s first private
performance in September 1918, aided
by an army of the composer’s pupils at
St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith.
In this recording British composer
Colin Matthews’ Protesters, premiered
in Manchester in 2000, is generously
coupled with Holst’s masterpiece and the
neglected Wagnerian scena for soprano
and orchestra. Lloyd–Jones draws fresh
and vibrant playing from Scotland’s top
classical band.
www.rsno.org.uk
Claire Rutter (soprano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra/
David Lloyd–Jones
(Naxos 8.555776)
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CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AWARD
Introduced by Simon Bates, who
presents Classic FM Drivetime
between 4pm and 6:30pm from
Monday to Friday. He also takes a
look at the film world in Classic FM
at the Movies, Saturdays at 6pm
Previous Winners
2002: Tan Dun “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
Alfred Hitchcock decided that his 1943
film Lifeboat could sail without any music.
Since the entire movie was set at sea,
the director concluded, where would the
music come from? “Ask Mr Hitchcock to
explain where the camera came from,”
replied the redundant composer, “and
I’ll explain to him where the music comes
from.” The movie soundtrack’s power to
move and fuel imaginations runs deep, as
Academy Award winners John Williams
and Howard Shore have proved beyond
in their film scores. Millions of people
have first experienced the overwhelming,
spine–tingling sounds of a symphony
orchestra at full tilt in their local cinemas,
with standout scores gaining a place in
the repertoire of contemporary concert
hall classics. Estonia’s Arvo Pärt has
reached vast audiences by a different
route. Like the best film scores, though,
the spiritual message of his music speaks
directly to the emotions.
Arvo Pärt Howard Shore John Williams
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has
tapped into the raw nerve of faith
preserved within Orthodox art and music,
developing an immediately identifiable
musical language variously described as
holy minimalism, spiritual or devotional.
Born in 1935 not far from Tallinn, Pärt’s
complex, modernist early compositions
pushed at the boundaries set by the
ruling Soviet authorities. In the mid
1970s he created a new style of writing
for voices, inspired by the sound of bells
and characteristically haunting in its
still simplicity. Sacred texts and images
have deeply influenced his output ever
since, resulting in distinctive works such
as Passio, De Profundis, The Beatitudes
and Miserere. The short work for strings
Orient & Occident, written to mark
the Millennium and premiered by the
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in Berlin
in September 2000, reconciles striking
musical disagreements between East
and West.
www.ecmrecords.com
Toronto native Howard Shore, born in
1946, cut his musical teeth at Boston’s
Berklee School of Music and graduated
to write music for rock outfit Lighthouse.
Fellow Canadian Lorne Michaels invited
Shore to Hollywood to supply the music for
weekly stand–up show Saturday Night Live
in its early and hugely popular years. In
1979 he created the soundtrack for David
Cronenberg’s sombre and twisted thriller
The Brood. The composer’s film credits
since include memorable soundtracks
to Silence of the Lambs, Dead Ringers
and Seven, with the Tom Hanks comedy
Big and Robin Williams’s Mrs Doubtfire
providing light relief along the way. Last
year his epic music for the first instalment
of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy
received the Oscar for Best Original Score.
Since completing his Tolkein–inspired
scores, Shore has written OST’s for Panic
Room and Cronenberg’s Spider.
www.lso.org.uk
Five Academy Awards, 17 Grammys,
three Golden Globes, two Emmys and
five BAFTA Awards testify to the
pre–eminence of John Williams in the
musical history of modern cinema.
The 71-year-old composer was again
nominated for an Oscar this year for his
score to Catch Me If You Can. His recent
soundtracks to Star War Episode II and
Harry Potter – The Chamber of Secrets
underlines the remarkably diverse and
fresh creativity of someone who has
written music for almost 80 movies. New
York–born Williams moved to Los Angeles
with his family in 1948 and, after service
in the United States Air Force and studies
at the Juilliard School of Music, worked
his way up the Hollywood musical ladder.
A select number of Williams’s film scores
have become icons of American culture,
not least his OST to the original Star Wars
trilogy, Indiana Jones, E.T., and Superman.
www.johnwilliamscomposer.com
Listen to: Orient and Occident
– enter a profoundly spiritual
soundworld.
(ECM New Series 472 080–2)
Listen to: Lord of the Rings The
Two Towers OST – all hell breaks
loose on screen and in Shore’s
electrifying soundtrack.
(Reprise 9362–48421–2)
Listen to: Star Wars Episode II
OST – a classic and classy
Williams score.
(Sony Classical SK89932)
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Classical BRIT Awards 2003
Nominations Checklist
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Chloë Hanslip
Magdalena Kozena
Renee Fleming
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Andrea Bocelli
Sir Colin Davis
Sir Simon Rattle
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Aled Jones Aled
Operababes Beyond Imagination
The Planets Classical Graffiti
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, David Lloyd–Jones
Holst The Planets
Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Mahler Symphony No. 5
Russell Watson Reprise
Andrea Bocelli Sentimento
Bond Shine
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Tolga Kashif
The Queen Symphony
Lesley Garrett The Singer
CRITICS’ AWARD
Murray Perahia
Chopin/Études Opus 10, Opus 25
Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Mahler Symphony No. 5
Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel
Bachiana Music by the Bach Family
YOUNG BRITISH CLASSICAL PERFORMER
Chloë Hanslip
Colin Currie
Paul Lewis
ENSEMBLE/ORCHESTRAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Berliner Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle
Mahler Symphony No. 5
London Symphony Orchestra/Rostropovich
Shostakovish Symphony No. 11
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Rutter/Lloyd Jones
Holst/The Planets, The Mystic Trumpeter
CLASSICAL BRIT AWARDS COMMITTEE
Chairman: Rob Dickins (Instant Karma)
Alun Taylor (Sony Classics) David Blake (Select Music) Ginny Cooper
(Chandos Records) Matthew Cosgrove (Warner Classics) Chris Craker
(Sanctuary Classics) John Cronin (BMG) Jeremy Elliott (Retrospective
Recordings) Richard Harrison (Santcuary Classics) Bill Holland (Universal
Classics and Jazz) Beryl Korman (Upbeat Recordings) Theo Lap (EMI
Classics) Barry McCann (EMI Classics) Serge Rousset (Harmonia Mundi)
Mike Spring (Hyperion Records) Sarah Roberts (BPI)
FOR THE BPI
Maggie Crowe, Andrew Ellis, Peter Jamieson, Sarah Stuart, Andrew Yeates
EVENT & SHOW
Executive Producers: Lisa Anderson (BRITs TV) & Mark Wells (Carlton TV)
Sponsorship and External Affairs Management: Sarah Sinclair
Television Show produced by BRITs TV
in association with Carlton Productions
Producer: Helen Terry
Programme Associate: Guy Freeman
Director: Janet Fraser Crook
Production Manager: Annie Crofts
Stage Production: MJK Productions
Media and Public Relations: ld Publicity & Promotions
International TV Sales: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Ticketing: Maggie Crowe and Abigail Stacey
Legal Advisor: Emma Fanning
Graphic Design: JM Enternational
EVENT BROCHURE
Publisher: jmenternational.com
Consultant Editor: Andrew Stewart
Consultant Advertising Director: Kathy Leppard
CATERING
Letheby & Christopher
With special thanks to Royal Albert Hall
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AWARD
Arvo Pärt Orient & Occident
Howard Shore The Lord of The Rings – The Two Towers
John Williams Star Wars Episode II/
Harry Potter – The Chamber of Secrets
The Classical BRIT Awards 2002
This year KIEHL’S, the New York–based purveyor of
efficacious skin, hair and body care products is treating
Artists and Presenters to a luxurious customized gift box
containing scented Liquid Bath, Shower Body Cleanser and
Deluxe Hand & Body Lotion as well as a All Day Treatment
Masque to help the artists get “ready for their close up.”
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