Ten classical artists for tomorrow
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
We highlight ten exciting young artists shaping the way that the classical music world looks, feels and sounds in the 21st century
Gramophone is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, but centenary celebrations aren’t all about looking backwards, so we felt it was important to share our excitement about artists of the younger generation who we feel are shaping – or even reshaping – the classical music world, paving the way for what the future holds for our art form.
This isn’t to be taken as a simple ‘top ten artists under 40’ list – though each included performer is someone that we feel is achieving extraordinary artistic standards. Rather, we’ve drawn together a mixture of figures who represent the breadth of where music might be heading – from those pushing the boundaries of repertoire or rethinking recording and audience engagement, to those already dominating their field with their sheer brilliance and interpretative imagination.
Together, they bring us much optimism that the future of classical music will be as creative, challenging, enlightening and entertaining as it has been for the past century.
Elim Chan
Conductor
Emil Chan’s role in Benjamin Grosvenor’s Chopin concertos recording was so striking that the pianist didn’t even get a mention until the third paragraph of our review. This deeply thoughtful artist – Principal Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony and Principal Guest of the Royal Scottish National – has debuts with the Vienna, Pittsburg and San Francisco symphonies this season, testament to a growing stature that should soon be more widely represented on record.
Recommended recording
Chopin Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2
Benjamin Grosvenor pf Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Elim Chan
'It's the kind of disc that makes you rethink these works and appreciate them all over again. And let's hope that this is the start of a wonderful recording partnership with Elim Chan.'
Johan Dalene
Violinist
‘Only as old as the century’ we noted when naming this Swedish violinist (and winner of the 2019 Carl Nielsen competition), our Young Artist of the Year last autumn – but what wisdom he already seems to convey in a tone both beautiful and steeped in emotion. His Barber, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Nielsen concertos are required listening for anyone exploring the violin repertoire – and bravo to BIS for capturing such powerful music-making for posterity in such excellent sound.
Recommended recording
Nielsen. Sibelius Violin Concertos
Johan Dalene vn Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / John Storgårds
'Dalene’s highly distinctive phrasing draws attention to all sorts of linked patterns and shapes in the composer’s unique syntax while never distorting the line or seeming incongruous – as though Dalene’s distinct ideas about phraseology have come to him in the moment, entirely naturally'
Lise Davidsen
Soprano
Lise Davidsen, only a few short but extraordinary years since entering opera lovers’ consciousness, already stands out among sopranos of her generation as an artist of incredible talent. Our Young Artist back in 2018, she’s earned Editor’s Choices in Grieg and Strauss songs and as Leonora in Fidelio, while she is already in great demand from the world’s greatest opera houses and audiences alike. It only takes the briefest of listens to her voice to understand why.
Recommended recording
Grieg Songs
Lise Davidsen sop Leif Ove Andsnes pf
'There’s the freshness of Davidsen’s voice, for starters, which has a rare rich beauty and steely strength and grandeur, but which she is also able to pare down to the most intimate pianissimo. In purely vocal terms, it’s a stunning display of range and technical control. But the soprano’s way with the texts – especially those in her own language – is also beautifully unaffected and honest.'
Randall Goosby
Violinist
Randall Goosby’s first album for Decca was a journey across more than a century of African-American music. The Memphis-born virtuoso is a protégé of Itzhak Perlman – recommendations don’t come much higher than that – and interviewing him about his debut was to encounter an artist of thoughtful intellect and a genuine desire to use his position to raise awareness of neglected music, but also to reach and inspire neglected potential audiences.
Listen to Randall Goosby on the Gramophone Podcast:
Recommended recording
'Roots'
Randall Goosby vn Zhu Wang pf Xavier Dubois Foley double bass
'Make no mistake, Goosby is a virtuoso: he can sing, full-throated, and shape fluid, gleaming phrases high on the E string with the best of them. But it never sounds knowing or contrived: more like an artist speaking eloquently in his own voice, with lucid, sympathetic partnership from Wang.'
Anna Lapwood
Organist and conductor
Whether drawing five million TikTok views for a Saint-Saëns video, or thrilling a Royal Albert Hall packed with dancers by accompanying Bonobo, Sony-signed Anna Lapwood is not your usual organist and conductor. But couple that ease with social media and genre-crossing to an impeccable virtuosity, plus an ability to inspire in her young Pembroke College singers truly beautiful choral performances, and you have an artist who truly embodies our era.
Listen to Anna Lapwood on the Gramophone Podcast:
Recommended recording
'Images'
Anna Lapwood org
'Aided by some simply divine registration choices, Lapwood gives it a wonderful aura of tranquillity.'
Klaus Mäkelä
Conductor
To record the entire Sibelius symphony cycle for your debut release is a bold statement, but Klaus Mäkelä more than justified the decision with a set that stands among the finest in the catalogue. (He was incidentally the first conductor Decca had signed since Riccardo Chailly in 1978.) Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of Orchestre de Paris and Artistic Director of the Turku Music Festival, in 2027 he takes over as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw.
Listen to Klaus Mäkelä on the Gramophone Podcast:
Recommended recording
Sibelius Complete Symphonies
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä
'We all have favourite recordings and cherished performances of the Sibelius symphonies but Mäkelä’s cycle is all of a piece, accomplished, insightful and full of the beauty and intrigue that make these works so perennially exciting. An uber-auspicious debut.'
Víkingur Ólafsson
Pianist
Víkingur Ólafsson’s journey with DG began with a sublimely beautiful Philip Glass recording, before embracing Bach, Debussy, Rameau, Mozart and Kurtág. And these thoughtfully shaped – and stunningly recorded – recitals have been accompanied by beautifully shot videos, and even re-mixes, inviting us to share this Icelandic pianist’s exploration of what such music means to us, today. An artist whose music-making feels as contemporary as it does timeless.
Listen to Víkingur Ólafsson on the Gramophone Podcast:
Recommended recording
'Mozart & Contemporaries'
Víkingur Ólafsson pf
'The recording, made in Reykjavík’s Harpa Concert Hall, is entirely natural and helps set the seal on another winner from one of the most original musical minds around.'
Raphaël Pichon
Conductor
Raphaël Pichon’s recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion – a journey steeped in both spirituality and a sense of human drama – easily took last year’s Choral Award. Pichon and his ensemble, Pygmalion, are familiar to our pages, whether exploring early opera or partnering splendid recital albums with soprano Sabine Devieilhe. A leading light of his generation, Pichon’s music-making is original and highly personal, yet builds impeccably on the rich tradition that underpins it.
Recommended recording
JS Bach St Matthew Passion
Julian Prégardien, Stéphane Degout, Sabine Devieilhe, Hana Blažiková, Lucile Richardot, Tim Mead, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Christian Immler; Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon
Sean Shibe
Guitarist
Even were Sean Shibe to have stuck to the usual well-trod path of a classical guitarist, his exquisite sense of tone and colour, and compelling interpretative instinct, would have earned him the highest acclaim – from Bach to Mompou, his playing is breathtakingly beautiful. But such a journey wouldn’t be true to this most exploratory and open-minded of artists; few musicians are doing so much to reshape the place of their instrument, be it acoustic and electric, for modern times.
Listen to Sean Shibe on the Gramophone Podcast:
Recommended recording
Bach Pour La Luth Ò Cembal
Sean Shibe guitar
'Can you ever speak in elevated, grandiose terms about a classical guitarist? You want to avoid weight, to find instead phrases of lightness and simplicity. Yet after listening to Sean Shibe’s magnificent new Bach recital, when I reach for comparisons I don’t go to other guitarists. Or even lutenists. I go to a musician like the violinist Rachel Podger, or the pianist Angela Hewitt. Because, as with Shibe, and to paraphrase Schweitzer, their Bach so clearly sounds like it must be a summation of everything that has gone before.'
Yuja Wang
Pianist
A global star, and one whose acclaim has been earned just as much in chamber music as for stunning concerto recordings in repertoire from Rachmaninov to Adams – and as for solo music, turn to her Gramophone Award-winning Berlin recital for the perfect balance of daredevilry and control. Like her fellow highlighted pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Wang records for DG – and in totally different ways they reveal the breadth that a modern pianist can embrace.
Recommended recording
'The Berlin Recital'
Yuja Wang pf
'Prokofiev’s innate exhibitionism is undeniably done full justice, while the finale’s crucial ‘irresolute’ reminiscence of the first movement also rings emotionally true. The uber-exuberant last pages provoke a torrent of applause that is as fully earned as the hype accompanying the disc.'
Photography: Elim Chan (Rahi Rezvani), Johan Dalene (Mats Backer), Lise Davidsen (James Hole), Randall Goosby (Kaupo Kikkas), Anna Lapwood (Nick Rutter), Klaus Mäkelä (Marco Borggreve), Víkingur Ólafsson (Ari Magg), Raphaël Pichon (St Matthew Passion; HM), Sean Shibe (Iga Gozdowska), Yuja Wang (Julia Wesely)
This article originally appeared in the April 2023 issue of Gramophone magazine. Life is better with great music in it – subscribe to Gramophone today
