Classical BRIT Awards 2001
Royal Albert Hall, London - Saturday, 31st May 2001
Charlotte's
Narrow Miss
South
Wales Echo
Charlotte Church narrowly missed out on the Album of the Year award at the Classical Brits last night.
Her album, Dream a Dream, and Andrea Bocelli's Verdi were pipped by Mancunian tenor Russell Watson's debut album The Voice.
The Voice was also the Best Selling Album of the Year.
It topped an outstanding year for the former factory worker, who launched his classical career after he was spotted singing Nessun Dorma in a workingmen's club in his native Salford.
Watson became an overnight star when his debut album was released and has been widely credited with bringing opera to the masses.
But he missed out on the coveted Male Artist of the Year gong which went to the household favourite Nigel Kennedy.
Kennedy, who has now dropped the Nigel from his stage name, made up for last year's disappointment when beaten to the title by Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel.
It is only the second year the Classical Brits have been held. They aim to raise the profile and improve accessibility of the genre.
Clad in skintight leathers, string quartet Bond, including Eos Chater from Cardiff, opened the star-studded event with an updated section from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Their album Born was banned from the classical charts for being too pop-based.
The female artist of the year title went to Romanian-born opera singer Angela Gheorghiu, who scooped the title ahead of Lesley Garret and Renee Fleming.
The Young British Classical Performer award went to 23-year-old pianist Freddy Kempf, who has been astonishing audiences since he began playing the instrument at the age of four.
The ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall and was hosted by ITN newsgirl Katie Derham.
Politics soon took centre stage when Sir Simon Rattle said on receiving The Critics Award, 'Does it seem we are in the middle of an election? I must have missed the reference to the arts from any of the parties.'
His comments were greeted with cheers from some of the audience.
From Factory Floor To Brit Awards
SKYNEWS
Discovered
Watson, a former factory worker, launched his classical career after he was spotted singing Nessun Dorma in a workingmen's club in his native Salford.
He became an overnight star when his debut album was released and has been widely credited with bringing opera to the masses.
But Watson missed out on the coveted Male Artist of the Year gong which went to the household favourite Nigel Kennedy, the so-called bad boy of classical music.
Bad-boy
Spiky-haired Kennedy, who has now dropped the Nigel from his stage name, made up for last year's disappointment, when he was beaten to the title by Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel.
Kennedy, who sports a Jimi Hendrix headband and a scarf in the colours of his beloved Aston Villa football club, has defied tradition in the austere world of classical music and even hit the pop charts with Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
The Classical Brits, in their second year, aim to raise the profile and improve accessibility of the genre.
Romanian wins
The female artist of the year title went to Romanian-born opera singer Angela Gheorghiu, who pipped Lesley Garret and Renee Fleming to the title.
The Young British Classical Performer award went to 23-year-old pianist Freddy Kempf, who has been astonishing audiences since he began playing the instrument at the age of four.
The glittering ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall.
Violinist "bad boy" Kennedy" star of Classical Brits
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Violin virtuoso Kennedy, the spiky-haired "bad boy of classical music", has been honoured as male artist of the year at the Classical Brit awards.
The star, who sports a Jimi Hendrix headband and a scarf in the colours of his beloved Aston Villa football club, has defied tradition in the austere world of classical music -- and even hit the pop charts with Vivaldi's "Four Seasons."
A child prodigy nurtured by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, he learned the joys of improvisation from French jazz legend Stephane Grappelli and his heroes range from Bartok to Hendrix.
He dropped his first name Nigel and prefers to be known as Kennedy -- an eccentric genius hailed by critics as one of the world's greatest violinists.
Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, who first made her name in La Traviata at London's Covent Garden back in 1994, was picked as female artist of the year at the awards ceremony on Thursday.
The raven-haired diva has been praised for the passion and glamour she brings to her roles and won plaudits for the richness of her voice. She and her husband, tenor Roberto Alagna, are one of the opera world's biggest box office draws.
Classical music has been locked in a bitter battle between traditional purists and record executives with an eye on the pop chart possibilities of a crossover artist.
Teenage violinist Vanessa Mae launched the trend with an album cover of her in a clinging wet dress.
Today's trendy stars are Bond, the all-female ensemble hailed by the British tabloids for making string quartets sexy.
The Classical Brit awards opted for the populist approach with "People's Tenor" Russell Watson, who learned his craft in the working men's clubs of northern England, winning the album of the year award.
He fought off stiff competition from the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning Roman epic "Gladiator" and the teenage singing sensation Charlotte Church, who has topped the charts and performed for Bill Clinton and the Pope.
But the ceremony did make one choice to please the purists -- an Outstanding Contribution award went to conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who transformed Britain's Birmingham Symphony Orchestra over 18 years and is now to take up the baton in Berlin.
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