To vote for the 2016 Gramophone Hall of Fame, click here

We today launch the vote for the 2016 edition of the Gramophone Hall of Fame. As with previous years, since the initiative was launched in 2012, I’m inviting you, our readers, to help us name the 10 people we’ll add to the already illustrious roll call of performers, producers, engineers and label executives whose vision, commitment and genius have changed classical music recording in some significant way.

These people - or in some cases ensembles - are then explored in depth on our website, with their own dedicated page linking to content such as reviews, features and videos, a section of our website which we know to be one the most widely visited. The idea is, year-by-year, to create a valuable resource for those wishing to understand and explore the greats of recorded music. 

The Gramophone Hall of Fame was launched with 50 names. In 2013, our 90th anniversary year, we added another 40 to bring the total up to 90. We now add a further 10 each year. Last year saw conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Antonio Pappano and Christopher Hogwood, pianists Angela Hewitt, Sir András Schiff and Marc-André Hamelin and singers Kathleen Ferrier, Hans Hotter and Renata Tebaldi voted in. 

You now have three weeks to decide who will join them. 

We’ve drawn up a long list of names we think should be considered - take a look, and simply vote for three of them. Remember, it’s the contribution to recorded music that we’re particularly seeking to acknowledge. Throughout the next three weeks, we’ll also be exploring in greater depth some of the contenders through online features, to help generate discussion and debate. We’ll then celebrate the chosen artists in the June issue of Gramophone, and here at gramophone.co.uk.

I hope you enjoy deciding who to vote for, and thank you in advance for taking the time to do so. We want our Hall of Fame to reflect the knowledge and passion of the largest possible number of committed classical music listeners - and it’s only through your engagement that we’ve been able to make this celebratory and educational resource as meaningful as it is.

I look forward to seeing who you choose!

Martin Cullingford, Gramophone Editor

To vote for the 2016 Gramophone Hall of Fame, click here

You can also visit the Gramophone Hall of Fame to explore current members