Forty-five nominees competed for the Edisons Jazz and Classical 2023 in fifteen categories. This year, the winners of the oldest and important Dutch music prize for albums were announced gradually on various radio stations in a kind of relay. The last announcement was Saturday. On Monday, October 9, the Edison jazz oeuvre prize will also be announced and awarded in the Afas Theater in Leusden.
Jazz
In the jazz category (national instrumental), pianist Wolfert Brederode wins with his album Ruins and Remains. With the Matangi Quartet and drummer Joost Lijbaart, he has musically refined the end of the First World War, according to the jury. “Melancholic with an occasional glimmer of hope.” Also awarded: the collaboration of saxophonist Benjamin Herman with singer Anna Serierse op True Love’s Flame (vocal). Saxophonist Loek van den Berg is with Wayfarer Dear Newcomer. “A storyteller par excellence.”
Also read: the rising jazz star Loek van den Berg
International prizes go to the South African pianist/composer Nduduzo Makhathini (In the Spirit of Ntu), jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and her ‘daring’ project Melusine with original compositions and interpretations of songs dating back to the 12th century and also Love in Exile (“spectacular in an understated way”) by Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad (Edison Global). The British compilation album London Brew wins the Soul/R&B/Funk category.
The Jazzism Edison Audience Award 2023 goes to trumpeter Eric Vloeimans and his Wild Port Of Europea soundtrack to a film about animals in the port of Rotterdam.
Classic
The winners in the eight classical categories include one Dutch woman: violinist Julija Hartig with her album Dark Velvet (category: newcomer national). The jury praises her for her “completely unique and personal idiom: from intimately veiled to raw and bold.” Orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev won in two categories: with The Beginning & The End in the Orchestra category and with Handel Theodora (including mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato) in the opera category.
Also read this interview with Maxim Emelyanychev: ‘I take on the role that the music asks of me’
Continue to win In Winter’s House: Christmas with Tenebrae from Tenebrae (choir category), Secret Love Letters by Lisa Batiashvili (soloist instrumental), Walking in the Dark by Julia Bullock (soloist vocal), Les frères Francoeur by Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Justin Taylor (chamber music) and Empire of the Kaiser Quartett (neoclassical).