Grammy Update

I finally got around to looking at the complete Grammy Award list and found a few other Celebrity Series of Boston artists from this season (tons from other seasons, as usual...ahem).

Turns out Maria Schneider and the Maria Schneider Orchestra were nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Sky Blue, and Maria's Cerulean Skies from the same album was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition. Maria and the Orchestra made their Celebrity Series debut November 18 at the Berklee Performance Center.

Not to be outdone, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was nominated in the Best Instumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) for his Haydn: Piano Sonatas album on Hyperion. Mr. Hamelin makes his celebrity Series debut January 26 at NEC's Jordan Hall. Pianist and Celebrity Series regular, Garrick Ohlsson was also nominated in the category.

Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff (who sang this past November 19 with the Berlin Philharmonic, you'll recall), whose recording The Jazz Album - Watch What Happens (Deutsche Grammophon), was nominated for Best Classical Crossover Album.

Among the many Celebrity Series alumni represented on the Grammy list, well, the ones that jumped out at me, were Eighth Blackbird, with 3 (count 'em!) nominations for Best Chamber Music Performance for their Strange Animals recording on the Cedille label, Best Classical Contemporary Composition (Jennifer Higdon, Zaka) and Best Producer of the Year, Classical (Judith Sherman).

Other nominees that once graced a Celebrity Series stage and may again are Joni Mitchell, Joe Lovano, Paquito D'Rivera, Soweto Gospel Choir, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Sweet Honey In The Rock (Best Musical Album for Children, by the way), Renee Fleming, and Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists. The late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson received three nominations for Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs on Nonesuch.