Double victory for EMI Classics at 10th anniversary Classical Brit awards

Alison Balsom wins Female Artist of the Year - first British artist ever to win this award

Howard Goodall wins Composer of the Year

EMI Classics celebrates a double victory at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards, the 10th anniversary show, which took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 14th May 2009. Trumpeter Alison Balsom was crowned Female Artist of the Year for the release of her recent album Haydn & Hummel: Trumpet Concertos and Howard Goodall scooped Composer of the Year for his album Eternal Light - A Requiem.

Since being awarded Young British Classical Performer at the 2006 Classical BRIT Awards, glamorous trumpeter Alison Balsom’s career has gone from strength to strength. She is the only female classical trumpeter with an exclusive major label recording contract and at this year’s Classical BRIT Awards she was both the sole British artist and the sole instrumentalist nominated in the Female Artist of the Year category. This is an impressive result for the trumpet, an instrument that has been rarely associated with female performers and one that has always lost out in terms of popularity to the voice. Alison comments: “The trumpet is often thought of as a masculine instrument, so it’s fantastic on so many levels to have the chance to bring the instrument centre stage.”

Speaking of her success, Alison said: “Having won Best Young Performer at the Classical BRITS in 2006, it’s such a thrill to have won a second time and to be nominated alongside artists I really admire. The past few years have been so exciting, and to be a Brit winning a BRIT makes it even more special.”

The Composer of the Year award went to Howard Goodall for his choral work Eternal Light - A Requiem. Howard Goodall is perhaps best known as the composer of various popular TV themes such as Blackadder, Red Dwarf and The Vicar of Dibley but is also a prodigious writer of choral music.

The Classical BRIT Awards 2009 with NS&I will broadcast on ITV1, Tuesday 19 May at 10:35pm and again on ITV3, Sunday 24 May at 7:45pm.