The 2011 Gramophone Awards have been announced, with major accolades going to the Pavel Haas Quartet, Dame Janet Baker and Gustavo Dudamel. The world’s most influential classical music prizes, this year presented in association with Steinway & Sons, were announced at a ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

The Pavel Haas Quartet have been named winners of the prestigious Recording of the Year, for their recording of Dvorák Quartets Nos 12 (American) and 13, released on the Supraphon label. 'You sense musicians enjoying themselves on home territory, and as such they’re superb ambassadors for the very best in Czech chamber music today,' said Gramophone editor-in-chief, James Jolly.

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel was named Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, in Gramophone’s only publicly-voted award. The most celebrated product of the Venezuelan ‘Sistema’, Dudamel’s charismatic ability to inspire a life-long passion for music in young people, together with his passionate energy on the podium, has brought him international superstardom, as well as posts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphonies. Dudamel won this worldwide online public vote ahead of musicians including Lang Lang, Mitsuko Uchida, Jonas Kaufmann and Alina Ibragimova.

Two musicians whose work over many decades has immeasurably enriched our musical live were also honoured. Dame Janet Baker, the great mezzo-soprano, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Sir John Eliot Gardiner received the Special Achievement Award for his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage project, recorded throughout 2000 and now available complete on the Soli Deo Gloria label.
 
Guitarist Miloš Karadaglić, signed to the DG label, received two Awards, Young Artist of the Year, and the Specialist Classical Chart Award, given in recognition of the sales of his debut disc 'The Guitar'. Wigmore Hall Live – the in-house label launched by the iconic and much-loved London chamber music venue – received the Label of the Year Award, the first live label to receive it.

For more information about these and all the recording category Awards, visit our Awards page, where you can also find out how to download six free tracks by our Award winners from iTunes. 

Visit our iTunes page to download our special Awards podcast – listen to excerpts from all the recordings, and hear our critics discuss them. Alternatively, you can stream it at our Awards page, or at our YouTube channel.