The 2024 Gramophone Awards were announced on 2 October in a glittering ceremony at London’s De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms hosted by the magazine’s editor Martin Cullingford.
Conductor Jakub Hrůša also took home two awards on the night. He shares the Concerto Award with Isabelle Faust, Boris Faust, Alexander Melnikov and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for their Harmonia Mundi release, Britten: Violin Concerto, Op 15a . Geraint Lewis writes of the recording in his original review, “[Faust] is unafraid and unflinching, and vividly unleashes the passion in these pages with mesmeric power, symbiotically partnered by Jakub Hrůša.”
Hrůša shares his second honour of the night with soprano Corinne Winters, who stars in the title role of the Opera winner: Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová (Unitel Editions). The Barrie Kosky production also featured Evelyn Herlitzius, David Butt Philip, Jaroslav Březina, Jarmila Balážová, Benjamin Hulett, Jens Larsen, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and the Wiener Staatsopernchor. Tim Ashley writes, “Hrůša is wonderful in this work, superbly judging its mixture of lyricism and tension.”
The Czech Philharmonic, of which Jakub is Principal Guest Conductor, was named Orchestra of the Year, winning the readers’ vote.
For more information, please visit gramophone.co.uk
Photo: Ian Ehm