POLYARTS MULTI-FACETED ARTISTS RECOGNISED AT THE GRAMMY AWARDS
6/2/2023
The 65th annual GRAMMY awards ceremony saw five Polyarts artists nominated or involved across six categories, with Stewart Copeland, Attacca Quartet and Edwin Outwater being recognised in winning categories across various genres and styles.
Stewart Copeland and collaborator Ricky Kej took home the award for Best Immersive Audio Album for Divine Tides, a diverse musical canvas featuring artists from all over the world. The album showcases a world where we can adapt to change, just like the moving tides, and in which all life can life sustainably and in harmony.
The album also won the 2022 GRAMMY award for Best New Age Album, with the two collaborators’ production styles highlighting the talents of the collection of “deeply traditional musicians” involved in its making. Copeland found the record to be “a unique adventure in both music and divine awareness”, for which it has received acclaim worldwide.
Attacca Quartet won the award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Evergreen. The album consists of five original works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, with three pieces written for string quartet — Three Essays, Blueprint, and The Evergreen — and two songs written for string quartet and voice.
Attacca Quartet and Shaw released Evergreen on Nonesuch Records in September 2022, receiving critical acclaim from the media. ‘Other Song’ from the Album was chosen by Björk for her BBC Radio 6 Music festive takeover last December, with Pitchfork saying that “the garden sounds magnificently thick and overgrown.”
Mason Bates’ work Philharmonia Fantastique – The Making of the Orchestra also took home the award for Best Engineered Album, Classical, which featured Edwin Outwater conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a concerto and animated film that explores the age-old connection between creativity and technology.
Polyarts’ multi-faceted roster saw an additional three nominations for the 2023 awards: Carlos Simon’s album Requiem for the Enslaved was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and Diana Ross’ album Thank You, produced by Troy Miller, received a nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Attacca Quartet also garnered a second nomination for 2+2=5, arranged by quartet member Nathan Schram, for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.
