For Your GRAMMY® Consideration

A few of this year’s outstanding albums by 8VA artists.

We are so proud of the brilliant recordings from the 8VA roster this year. Please consider the following when casting your GRAMMY® ballots. First round voting runs from October 12, 2026 through October 22, 2026.

Best Orchestral Performance

Clyne: Color Field
Marin Alsop, conductor (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra)
from Anna Clyne Abstractions

Xiaogang Ye: The Backyard of the Village
Dane Lam, conductor (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra)
from The Backyard of the Village: Orchestral Works by Xiaogang Ye

Ives: Celilo Falls
David Danzmayr, conductor (Oregon Symphony)
from AWAKEN: All Classical Radio's RII, Vol. 3

American Promise
William Ross, conductor (London Symphony Orchestra)
from Karen LeFrak: American Promise

Best Opera Recording

Davis: The Central Park Five
Anthony Parnther, conductor (Long Beach Opera)
Lacey Jo Benter, Cedric Berry, Ashley Faatoalia, Orson Van Gay II, Bernard Holcomb, William Powell III, Justin Ryan; Anthony Davis, composer; Richard Wesley, librettist

Best Choral Performance

Roots & Rivers
Joshua Habermann, conductor (Santa Fe Desert Chorale)
Chelsea Helm, Edmund Milly, Savannah Porter, Marques Jerrell Ruff

Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance

Canto Ostinato
Andrew Cyr, Erik Hall, Metropolis Ensemble & Sandbox Percussion

Dvořák: String Quintets
James Ehnes, Tessa Lark, Jonathan Vinocour, Ani Aznavoorian, Timothy Cobb, Edward Arron, Che-Yen Chen, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Paul Neubauer (Seattle Chamber Music Society)

Best Classical Instrumental Solo

Metanoia
Yulianna Avdeeva

Found Objects / Sound Objects
Marc-André Hamelin

Whitacre: The Pacific Has No Memory
Anne Akiko Meyers
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Manu Sinistra: Concertos for the Left Hand
Illia Ovcharenko
2022 Honens International Piano Competition Laureate
Oksana Lyniv, conductor (MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony)

Whispers & Thunder
Illia Ovcharenko
2022 Honens International Piano Competition Laureate

LeFrak: Prairie Dawn
Chris Richards
William Ross, conductor (London Symphony Orchestra)

Cuong: Re(new)al
Sandbox Percussion
David Alan Miller, conductor (Albany Symphony)

Foote: The Complete Cello Works
Julian Schwarz
Gerard Schwarz, conductor (Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra)

Love Symposium
Esther Yoo
Long Yu, conductor (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

Best Classical Compendium

Renewal: Music of Viet Cuong
David Alan Miller, conductor; Sandbox Percussion; Justin Benavidez; Albany Symphony

Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Davis: The Central Park Five
Anthony Davis, composer; Richard Wesley, librettist
from The Central Park Five
Anthony Parnther, Lacey Jo Benter, Bernard Holcomb, Orson Van Gay II, Ashley Faatoalia, Cedric Berry, William Powell III, Justin Ryan

Clyne: Color Field
Anna Clyne
from Anna Clyne: Abstractions
Marin Alsop & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Hamelin: Hexensabbat
Marc-André Hamelin
from Found Objects / Sound Objects

Whitacre: The Pacific Has No Memory
Eric Whitacre
from The Pacific Has No Memory
Anne Akiko Meyers & Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Ives: Celilo Falls
Nancy Ives
from AWAKEN: All Classical Radio's RII, Vol. 3
David Danzmayr, Brent Florendo Sitwalla-Pum & Oregon Symphony

Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella

Prairie Dawn
arr. for clarinet & orchestra by William Ross
Karen LeFrak, London Symphony Orchestra & William Ross

Canto Ostinato
arr. Jonny Allen (Sandbox Percussion), Erik Hall, David Leon & Ben Wallace
Metropolis Ensemble, Erik Hall & Sandbox Percussion

Best Engineered Album, Classical

Davis: The Central Park Five
Greg Curtis, engineer; Stephen Marsh, mastering engineer

Canto Ostinato
Erik Hall & Mike Tierney, engineers; Warren Defever, mastering engineer

Renewal: Music of Viet Cuong
Silas Brown, engineer and mastering engineer

Dvořák: String Quintets
Simon Kiln, engineer and mastering engineer

Best Immersive Audio Album

American Promise
William Ross, Karen LeFrak & London Symphony Orchestra

Click here for the official First Round GRAMMY® voting guide from the Recording Academy.