The Recording Academy® has honored the much-acclaimed Naxos recording of Joan Tower’s Made in America, with Leonard Slatkin leading the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, produced by Tim Handley, with three GRAMMY® Awards: Best Classical Album (awarded to Artists and Producer), Best Orchestral Performance (awarded to Conductor and Orchestra), and Best Classical Contemporary Composition (awarded to Composer).

This is the second time in three years that a Naxos recording has won GRAMMY® Awards in three major categories; in 2006, William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience won three GRAMMY® Awards (Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, and Best Contemporary Classical Composition). In addition, Tim Handley won Producer of the Year, Classical for his work on five Naxos albums, including Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Made in America began when 65 small U.S. orchestras pooled their resources to commission a new work by a major American composer. With the help of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Meet The Composer, and Ford Motor Company Fund, the project evolved into the phenomenon known as Ford Made in America, bringing Tower’s piece to towns nationwide.

NAXOS OF AMERICA-DISTRIBUTED LABEL ARTISTS WIN THREE GRAMMY®AWARDS

The Best Opera Recording of the Year (Awarded to the conductor, producer, and principal performers) went to the Chandos* recording of Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel, conducted by Sir Charles MacKerras, produced by Brian Couzens; featuring Rebecca Evans, Jane Henschel, Jennifer Larmore, Sarah Coppen, Diana Montague, and Sarah Tynan; the New London Children’s Choir; and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Additionally, Sound Engineer John Newton was honored with the Award for Best Engineered Classical Album for his work on the Chandos recording of Grechaninov’s Passion Week.

*Naxos of America currently manages Chandos’ digital distribution and will begin physical CD distribution of Chandos recordings on April 1, 2008.

Violinist James Ehnes took home the Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra for his CBC Records recording of violin concertos by Barber, Korngold, and Walton, with Bramwell Tovey conducting the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.