Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance
Encyclopedia
The Grammy Award
for Best Small Ensemble Performance has been awarded since 1997. In its early years, its title included the addition "(with or without a conductor)".
In 1991 the Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance
also included small ensemble performances.
The restructuring of these categories was a result of the Recording Academy's wish to decrease the list of categories and awards. According to the Academy, "the Chamber category was folded into the Small Ensemble category, the only distinction having been the number of players in the group (Chamber being smaller), and the fact that Small Ensemble recording could, though not necessarily, employ a conductor."
In the new structure, recordings are eligible if the ensemble contains 24 or fewer members, not including the conductor. There is one award for the ensemble and one for the conductor, if applicable.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.
Nominees
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Small Ensemble Performance has been awarded since 1997. In its early years, its title included the addition "(with or without a conductor)".
In 1991 the Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1959 to 1960 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Chamber Music ...
also included small ensemble performances.
2012 overhaul
From 2012, the category will be combined with the Best Chamber Music Performance category.The restructuring of these categories was a result of the Recording Academy's wish to decrease the list of categories and awards. According to the Academy, "the Chamber category was folded into the Small Ensemble category, the only distinction having been the number of players in the group (Chamber being smaller), and the fact that Small Ensemble recording could, though not necessarily, employ a conductor."
In the new structure, recordings are eligible if the ensemble contains 24 or fewer members, not including the conductor. There is one award for the ensemble and one for the conductor, if applicable.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.
2010s
- Grammy Awards of 2012
Nominees
- Gabriela Frank (conductor and composer) and The Alias Chamber Ensemble for Frank: Hilos
- Richard Savino (conductor) and El MundoEl MundoEl Mundo may refer to:*El Mundo , 1983 album recorded by Diomedes Diaz*El Mundo , Puerto Rican newspaper*El Mundo , Spanish newspaper*El Mundo , Venezuelan newspaper*El Mundo , Argentine newspaper...
for The Kingdoms of Castille - Rinde Eckert (librettist/performer) & Steven MackeySteven MackeySteven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...
(composer/performer) and Eighth BlackbirdEighth blackbirdeighth blackbird is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary music sextet based in Chicago. The group derives its name from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird...
for Lonely Motel - Music from Slide - Patrick Dupré Quigley (conductor) and Seraphic FireSeraphic fireSeraphic Fire is an American professional chamber choir based in Miami, Florida. Seraphic Fire collaborated with Shakira on the opening track of her album Oral Fixation Vol. 2 and became the first classical ensemble to be featured on a Billboard 200 rated album Seraphic Fire is an American...
for A Seraphic Fire Christmas - The Bay Brass for Sound The Bells!
- Grammy Awards of 2011
- Hespèrion XXIHespèrion XXIHespèrion XXI is an international early music ensemble. The group was formed in Basel, Switzerland in 1974 as Hespèrion XX by Spanish musical director Jordi Savall , Montserrat Figueras , Lorenzo Alpert , and Hopkinson Smith...
& La Capella Reial de CatalunyaLa Capella Reial de CatalunyaLa Capella Reial de Catalunya was created in Barcelona in 1987 by its conductor Jordi Savall as a group of soloist singers whose aim is to make the repertoire of Catalan historical music and, by extension, that of Spanish and other music widely known throughout the world...
(Jordi SavallJordi SavallJordi Savall i Bernadet is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol back to life on the stage...
, conductor) for Dinastia Borja
- Hespèrion XXI
2000s
- Grammy Awards of 2006Grammy Awards of 2006The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Irish rock band U2 were the big winners, winning five awards including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West each were nominated for eight awards and won three,...
- Pierre BoulezPierre BoulezPierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
(conductor) & Hilary SummersHilary SummersHilary Summers is a Welsh contralto. She was trained at Reading University, the Royal Academy of Music, and the National Opera Studio in London. She has performed on soundtracks such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Libertine, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
, Ensemble IntercontemporainEnsemble InterContemporainThe Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....
for Boulez: Le Marteau Sans Maître, Dérive 1 & 2
- Pierre Boulez
- Grammy Awards of 2005Grammy Awards of 2005The 47th Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2005 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were hosted by Queen Latifah , and televised in the United States by CBS. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year...
- Jeff von der Schmidt (conductor) & Southwest Chamber MusicSouthwest Chamber MusicSouthwest Chamber Music is an ensemble of 15 musicians based in Los Angeles County, California. The organization was founded in 1987 by Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt and Executive Director Jan Karlin...
for ChávezCarlos ChávezCarlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
- Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 2
- Jeff von der Schmidt (conductor) & Southwest Chamber Music
- Grammy Awards of 2004Grammy Awards of 2004The 46th Grammy Awards were held on the February 8, 2004. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. The big winners were Outkast, who won three awards including Album of the Year & Beyoncé Knowles, who won 5 Awards...
- Jeff von der Schmidt (conductor) & Southwest Chamber Music for "Chávez: Suite for Double Quartet"
- Grammy Awards of 2003Grammy Awards of 2003The 45th Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003. Musicians accomplishments from the previous year were recognized. Norah Jones was the night's big winner winning five awards including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal...
- Steve BarnettSteve BarnettJerry Stephen Barnett is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. He played college football at the University of Oregon and was drafted in the second round of the 1963 NFL Draft...
(producer), Preston Smith (engineer), Joseph Jennings (conductor), ChanticleerChanticleer (ensemble)Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome...
& the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston for TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
: Lamentations and Praises
- Steve Barnett
- Grammy Awards of 2002Grammy Awards of 2002The 44th Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 2002. The biggest was Alicia Keys, winning 5 Grammys, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". U2 won 4 awards including Record of the Year and Best Rock Album.-Award winners:...
- Helmut Mühle (producer), Philipp Nedel (engineer), Gidon KremerGidon KremerGidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
(producer & artist) & Kremerata BalticaKremerata BalticaKremerata Baltica is a chamber orchestra consisting of young musicians from Baltic countries . It was founded by Gidon Kremer in 1997.The name is a pun on camerata, the general word applying to various chamber music groups....
for After Mozart
- Helmut Mühle (producer), Philipp Nedel (engineer), Gidon Kremer
- Grammy Awards of 2001Grammy Awards of 2001The 43rd Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001. Steely Dan was the biggest winner winning three awards including Album of the Year for Two Against Nature. U2 was also a big winner winning three awards as well; including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Beautiful Day. Dr...
- Christian Gausch (producer), Wolf-Dieter Karwatky (engineer) & the Orpheus Chamber OrchestraOrpheus Chamber OrchestraThe Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a Grammy Award-winning classical music chamber orchestra based in New York City. It is known for its collaborative leadership style in which the musicians, not a conductor, interpret the score....
for Shadow Dances (StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
Miniatures - Tango; Suite No. 1; Octet, etc.)
- Christian Gausch (producer), Wolf-Dieter Karwatky (engineer) & the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
- Grammy Awards of 2000Grammy Awards of 2000The 42nd Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000. During the show, Santana won 8 Grammys, tying Michael Jackson's record for most awards won in a single night. Santana's album Supernatural was awarded a total of nine awards....
- Joseph Jennings (conductor) & ChanticleerChanticleer (ensemble)Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome...
for Colors of Love - Works of ThomasAugusta Read ThomasAugusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...
, StuckySteven StuckySteven Stucky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and...
, TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
& RandsBernard RandsBernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
- Joseph Jennings (conductor) & Chanticleer
1990s
- Grammy Awards of 1999Grammy Awards of 1999The 41st Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill was the nights big winner winning a total of 5 awards including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. Madonna won three awards while country musicians the Dixie...
- Steve ReichSteve ReichStephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
(conductor) for Reich: Music for 18 MusiciansMusic for 18 MusiciansMusic for 18 Musicians is a work of musical minimalism composed by Steve Reich during 1974-1976. Its world premiere was on April 24, 1976 at Town Hall, New York. Following this, a recording of the piece was released by ECM New Series...
performed by Steve Reich and MusiciansSteve Reich and MusiciansSteve Reich and Musicians, sometimes credited as the Steve Reich Ensemble, is a musical ensemble founded and led by the American composer Steve Reich to perform his compositions. This ensemble has premiered many of Reich's works and has performed his works more than any other...
- Steve Reich
- Grammy Awards of 1998Grammy Awards of 1998The 40th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and R...
- Claudio AbbadoClaudio AbbadoClaudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
(conductor) for "HindemithPaul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
: Kammermusik No. 1 With Finale 1921, Op. 24 No. 1" performed by members of the Berliner PhilharmonicBerlin Philharmonic OrchestraThe Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...
- Claudio Abbado
- Grammy Awards of 1997Grammy Awards of 1997The 39th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Babyface & Eric Clapton for "Change the World"*Album of the Year...
- Pierre BoulezPierre BoulezPierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
(conductor) & the Ensemble Inter-Contemporain for Boulez: ...Explosante-Fixe...
- Pierre Boulez