Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album


The Grammy Award – Best Classical Vocal Solo has been awarded since 1959. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:
  • From 1959 to 1960 and from 1962 to 1964 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist
  • In 1961 it was awarded as Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist
  • In 1965 it was awarded as Best Vocal Soloist Performance
  • In 1966, 1968 and from 1971 to 1990 it was awarded as Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance
  • In 1967 it was awarded as Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance
  • In 1969 it was awarded as Best Vocal Soloist Performance
  • In 1970 it was awarded as Best Vocal Soloist Performance, Classical
  • In 1991 it was awarded as Best Classical Vocal Performance
  • In 1992 it was awarded as Best Classical Vocal Soloist
  • From 1993 to 2011 it returned to being awarded as Best Classical Vocal Performance
  • From 2012 to 2014 it was awarded as Best Classical Vocal Solo
  • From 2015 the award has been known as Best Classical Solo Vocal Album and is open for albums only
Up to and including 2015, the Grammy was awarded to one or more vocal soloist. Accompanying musicians, orchestras and/or conductors were not eligible for the award. From 2016, "collaborative artists" have also been included. Accompanying large orchestras or multiple instrumentalists, however, remain ineligible. Producer and engineer/mixers of over 50% of playing time on the recording also receive an award.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.
WWW Official Site

Recipients

YearRecipientWorkNomineesRef.
1959Renata TebaldiOperatic Recital
1960Jussi BjörlingBjoerling in Opera
1961Leontyne PriceA Program of Song - Leontyne Price Recital
1962Joan SutherlandThe Art of the Prima Donna
1963Eileen FarrellGötterdämmerung - Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene/Wesendonck Songs
1964Leontyne PriceGreat Scenes From Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
1965Leontyne PriceBerlioz: Nuits d'Ete /Falla: El Amor Brujo
1966Leontyne PriceStrauss: Salome /The Egyptian Helen
1967Leontyne PricePrima Donna
1968Leontyne PricePrima Donna, Volume 2
1969Montserrat CaballéRossini: Rarities
1970Leontyne PriceBarber: Two Scenes From "Antony and Cleopatra"/Knoxville, Summer of 1915
1971Dietrich Fischer-DieskauSchubert: Lieder
1972Leontyne PriceLeontyne Price Sings Robert Schumann
1973Dietrich Fischer-DieskauBrahms: Die Schone Magelone
1974Leontyne PricePuccini: Heroines
1975Leontyne PriceLeontyne Price Sings Richard Strauss
1976Janet BakerMahler: Kindertotenlieder
1977Beverly SillsHerbert: Music of Victor Herbert
1978Janet BakerBach: Arias
1979Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti - Hits From Lincoln Center
1980Luciano PavarottiO Sole Mio - Favorite Neapolitan Songs
1981Leontyne PricePrima Donna, Vol. 5 - Great Soprano Arias From Handel to Britten
1982Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan SutherlandLive From Lincoln Center - Sutherland/Horne/Pavarotti
1983Leontyne PriceVerdi: Arias
1984Marilyn Horne and Leontyne PriceLeontyne Price & Marilyn Horne in Concert at the Met
1985Heather Harper, Jessye Norman & José van DamRavel: Songs of Maurice Ravel
1986John AlerBerlioz: Requiem
1987Kathleen BattleKathleen Battle Sings Mozart
1988Kathleen BattleKathleen Battle - Salzburg Recital
1989Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti in Concert
1990Dawn UpshawKnoxville - Summer of 1915
1991José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano PavarottiCarreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in Concert
1992Dawn UpshawThe Girl With Orange Lips
1993Kathleen Battle & Margo GarrettKathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall
1994Arleen AugerThe Art of Arleen Auger
1995Cecilia BartoliThe Impatient Lover - Italian Songs by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart
1996Sylvia McNairThe Echoing Air - The Music of Henry Purcell
1997Bryn TerfelOpera Arias - Works of Mozart, Wagner, Borodin
1998Cecilia BartoliAn Italian Songbook
1999Renée FlemingThe Beautiful Voice
2000Anne Sofie von Otter & Thomas QuasthoffMahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
2001Cecilia Bartoli, Jonathan Stokes, Christopher Raeburn The Vivaldi Album
2002Cecilia Bartoli, Jonathan Stokes, Christopher Raeburn Dreams & Fables - Gluck Italian Arias
2003Renée Fleming, Jonathan Stokes, Neil Hutchinson & Tom Lazarus, Erik Smith Bel Canto
2004Thomas Quasthoff & Anne Sofie von Otter, Jürgen Bulgrin & Oliver Rogalla Von Heyden, Christopher Alder Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra
2005Susan GrahamIves: Songs
2006Thomas Quasthoff, Jürgen Bulgrin & Rainer Maillard, Christopher Alder Bach: Cantatas
2007Lorraine Hunt LiebersonRilke Songs
2008Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, John Newton & Mark Donahue, Dirk Sobotka Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs
2009Hila Plitmann, John Corigliano, Tim Handley & Tom Lazarus, John Corigliano & Tim Handley Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
2010Renee FlemingVerismo
2011Cecilia BartoliSacrificium
2012Joyce DiDonatoDiva Divo
2013Renee FlemingPoèmes
2014Dawn UpshawWinter Morning Walks
2015Anne Sofie von OtterDouce France
2016Joyce DiDonato, Antonio Pappano Joyce & Tony - Live From Wigmore Hall
2017Dorothea Röschmann, Mitsuko Uchida Schumann & Berg
2017Ian Bostridge, Antonio Pappano Shakespeare Songs
2018Barbara HanniganCrazy Girl Crazy - Music by Gershwin, Berg & Berio
2019Karim Sulayman ; Apollo's Fire Songs of Orpheus - Monteverdi, Caccini, D'India & Landi
2020Joyce DiDonato ; Chuck Israels, Jimmy Madison, Charlie Porter & Craig Terry Songplay
2021Sarah Brailey & Dashon Burton ; James Blachly Smyth: The Prison
2022Sangeeta Kaur & Hilla Plitmann ; Danae Xanthe Vlasse Mythologies
2023Renée Fleming & Yannick Nézet-Séguin Voice of Nature - The Anthropocene
2024Julia Bullock ; Christian Reif Walking in the Dark
2025Karen Slack ; Michelle Cann Beyond the Years - Unpublished Songs of Florence Price
  • Nicholas Phan ; Palaver Strings - A Change Is Gonna Come
  • Fotina Naumenko ; Marika Bournaki - Newman: Bespoke Songs
  • Will Liverman ; Jonathan King - Show Me The Way
  • Joyce DiDonato ; Maxim Emelyanychev - Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
    • 2026Winner TBA on 1 February 2026
  • Alison Charney ; Benjamin Loeb - Alike - My Mother's Dream
  • Sidney Outlaw ; Warren Jones - Black Pierrot
  • Devony Smith ; Danny Zelibor ; Michael Nicolas - In This Short Life
  • Susan Narucki ; Curtis Macomber - Kurtág: Kafka Fragments
  • Theo Hoffman ; Steven Blier - Schubert Beatles
  • Amanda Forsythe ; Robert Mealy, Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs - Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias for Sopranos