Congratulations to our 8VA GRAMMY® Nominees
Christopher Cerrone: Don’t Look Down, performed by Sandbox Percussion
Best Classical Compendium
Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Sandbox Percussion; Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Christopher Cerrone, Ian Rosenbaum, Terry Sweeney & Mike Tierney, producers
Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Christopher Cerrone, composer (Conor Hanick & Sandbox Percussion)
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Mike Tierney, engineer; Alan Silverman, mastering engineer (Sandbox Percussion)
Don’t Look Down, from contemporary chamber music specialists Sandbox Percussion, reflects the group’s deep connection, friendship, and 10 years of music-making with composer Christopher Cerrone. A bold exploration of the endless possibilities of percussion, Don’t Look Down is a testament to the evolving power of music and collaboration.
Stream the album here.
Kris Bowers: The Wild Robot, featuring Sandbox Percussion
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television)
The Wild Robot
Kris Bowers, composer
Sandbox Percussion created innovative percussion sounds for The Wild Robot (DreamWorks, 2024), an animated science fiction film directed by Chris Sanders, with music by Kris Bowers. The earthy soundtrack uses a variety of found instruments played by Sandbox Percussion—glass bottles, metal pans, cardboard tubes, coils, coffee mugs, buckets, mixing bowls, chains, an oxygen tank—to bring to life the heartwarming story of Roz, a robot who is stranded on a desert island and learns to use kindness as a survival skill.
Stream the album here.
Beloved: Anne Akiko Meyers, Grant Gershon, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Best Choral Performance
Childs: In the Arms of the Beloved
Grant Gershon, conductor (Billy Childs, Dan Chmielinski, Christian Euman, Larry Koonse, Lyris Quartet, Anne Akiko Meyers, Carol Robbins & Luciana Souza; Los Angeles Master Chorale)
Anne Akiko Meyers offers the world premiere recording of Billy Childs’ In the Arms of the Beloved—a requiem for Childs’ mother and the centerpiece of the album—as well as Eric Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby and Ola Gjeilo’s Serenity. All feature the supreme voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Grant Gershon.
Stream the album here.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Michael Repper, Curtis Stewart, and the National Philharmonic
Best Orchestral Performance
Coleridge-Taylor: Toussaint L’Ouverture; Ballade Op. 4; Suites From ‘24 Negro Melodies’
Michael Repper, conductor (National Philharmonic)
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Coleridge-Taylor: 3 Selections From ‘24 Negro Melodies’
Curtis Stewart; Michael Repper, conductor (National Philharmonic)
Conductor Michael Repper, violinist Curtis Stewart, and the National Philharmonic celebrate the 150th anniversary of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s birth with the world premiere studio recordings of the tone poem Toussaint L’Ouverture and Ballade Op. 4 for Violin and Orchestra. Also included is a newly uncovered suite of 5 Negro Melodies as arranged by Coleridge-Taylor, paired with modern recompositions of 3 Negro Melodies arranged by Curtis Stewart, Hamilton Berry, and Andrew Roitstein.
Stream the album here.
Karen LeFrak: ROMÁNTICO
Producer of the Year, Classical
Elaine Martone
Karen LeFrak: ROMÁNTICO
Sharon Isbin, Enrico Lopez-Yañez & Orchestra Of St. Luke’s
ROMÁNTICO, by composer Karen LeFrak, features Sharon Isbin, one of the great guitar soloists of our time. The recording includes the world premiere of the three-movement Miami Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra, LeFrak’s homage to the musical heritage of Miami, the New York-based composer’s second home.
Stream the album here.
Final round GRAMMY® voting opens on December 12, 2025.