Salonen and San Francisco Symphony Take Opera Honors at 2026 Gramophone Awards

The 2026 Gramophone Classical Music Awards named their winners on Oct. 7 at a ceremony in London, with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra taking the Opera Award.

The American ensemble won for the premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho's "Adriana Mater," released by Deutsche Grammophon. The award places Salonen's account of the late Finnish composer's opera at the head of this year's operatic field.

Who won the other categories?

The Choral Award went to Capella Sollertia and Johanna Soller for the premiere recording of Johann Ludwig Bach's Leipzig Cantatas, released on the Ricercar label. It is a rediscovery-driven project: the cantatas of the lesser-known Bach cousin, committed to disc for the first time.

The Song Award went to mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet and pianist Florian Caroubi. The pair won for "Belle époque!," their first full album together, released by Alpha.

The Voice and Ensemble category went to mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg and The Mozartists, conducted by their founder Ian Page. Their winning disc is a collection of Gluck arias, released on Signum.

The Early Music Award went to Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo Alessandrini for "Stravagante pensiero: Gesualdo & Napoli," an exploration of the madrigalist and his Neapolitan context.

The full list of announced winners:

• Opera: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra — Saariaho, "Adriana Mater" (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Choral: Capella Sollertia and Johanna Soller — Johann Ludwig Bach, Leipzig Cantatas (Ricercar)
• Song: Adèle Charvet and Florian Caroubi — "Belle époque!" (Alpha)
• Voice and Ensemble: Ann Hallenberg and The Mozartists under Ian Page — Gluck arias (Signum)
• Early Music: Concerto Italiano and Rinaldo Alessandrini — "Stravagante pensiero: Gesualdo & Napoli"

What happened at the ceremony?

The London event doubled as a showcase for two of the winning artists. Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky performed Hahn's "À Chloris" with pianist Nigel Foster.

Charvet and Caroubi, fresh from their Song Award win, performed Fauré's "La chanson du pêcheur," Op. 4, No. 1 — music squarely in the French repertoire that anchors their "Belle époque!" album.

Two of the five announced winning recordings are premiere captures: the Saariaho opera and the Johann Ludwig Bach cantatas. That balance signals where the awards' jurors looked this year — both toward contemporary opera's major documented statements and toward baroque repertory receiving its first complete hearing on disc.

For the San Francisco Symphony, the Opera Award caps a recorded milestone under Salonen. For Charvet and Caroubi, the prize arrives on a first joint album, a distinction that rarely comes so early in a duo's discography.

The Oct. 7 announcements join a lineage of Gramophone awards that have historically tracked which recordings dominate classical critics' lists in the seasons that follow.