The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical is an honor presented to
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
s for quality
classical music productions at the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
s, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.
Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Originally known as the Grammy Award for Classical Producer of the Year, the award was first presented to
James Mallinson
James Mallinson (1943 – 24 August 2018) was a British record producer. He was the first winner of the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical category, and won a total of 16 Grammy Awards in his career.
He won his first three Grammy a ...
at the
22nd Grammy Awards (1980). The name remained unchanged until 1998, when the category became known as Producer of the Year, Classical. According to the category description guide for the
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...
, the award is presented to album producers "whose recordings, released for the first time during the eligibility year, represent consistently outstanding creativity in the production of classical recordings".
Producers must have produced at least 51% playing time on three separately released recordings (only one of which can be an
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
released in
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
format). Producers may submit content as a team only if they worked together exclusively during the period of eligibility.
[
Anthony Tommasini, music critic for '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', asserted that "In the struggling field of classical recording, it's the producers who take the real risks and make things happen." The honor is presented alongside the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...
.
As of 2021, David Frost, Steven Epstein and Robert Woods share the record for most wins, with seven each. Judith Sherman won the award six times, while James Mallinson has been presented the award three times. Two-time recipients include Joanna Nickrenz (once alongside Marc Aubort). Elaine Martone received the honor in 2007. David Frost is the son of Thomas Frost,
Recipients
Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
See also
* American classical music
* List of Grammy Award categories
The Grammy Awards are awarded in a series of categories, each of which isolate a specific contribution to the recording industry. The standard awards list nominees in each category from which a winner is selected. Twenty-eight Grammys were awarded ...
References
;General
* Note: User must select the "Producer" category as the genre under the search feature.
;Specific
External links
Official site of the Grammy Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammy Award For Producer Of The Year, Classical
Awards established in 1980
Grammy Awards for classical music