The following is from the press kit sent out by Gramophone immediately
following the awards ceremony.  Except for some formatting, all of the
following is as it appears in the press release.

21.00, 9 October 2000

GRAMOPHONE ANNOUNCES AWARDS 2000

The world's foremost annual celebration of recorded classical music, the
Gramophone Awards, were unveiled this evening (Monday 9th October 2000) in
a glittering ceremony held at the Royal Festival Hall.  Sir Simon Rattle
picked up three awards (Orchestral, Opera and Record of the Year), whilst
a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to outstanding Italian tenor
Carlo Bergonzi.

Minister for Culture, Chris Smith presented Antonio Pappano with the
coveted Artist of the Year Award.

Presented by actress, Honor Blackman, the ceremony included performances
by some of the Award 2000 winners including Angela Gheorghiu and Antionio
Pappano.  "We are extremely pleased with this year's line up of Award
winners and performers," explains Gramophone magazine editor, James Jolly.
"The records chosen during our extensive voting process, have produced a
list of outstanding quality, providing an impressive classical music
benchmark to start off the new Millennium."

"We're delighted with the progress made on this year's Gramophone Awards,"
explains Haymarket Consumer Magazines Managing Director, Kevin Costello.
"This is the first time the Awards have come under our full jurisdiction,
since we took over Gramophone in July 1999.  The ceremony and the Awards
issue of Gramophone are watched extremely closely by both the industry and
classical music enthusiasts, and once again we're expecting the Awards to
have a positive and encouraging effect upon record sales."

The ceremony was attended by over 1,500 Gramophone readers, as well as over
500 hundred representatives from the classical music industry.

Early:
    Byrd, Complete keyboard works, Davitt Moroney, Hyperion

Baroque Vocal:
    Handel, Acis and Galatea, Les Arts Florissants / William Christie, Erato

Baroque Instrumental:
    Pandolfi, Violin Sonatas, Andrew Manze; Richard Egarr, Harmonia Mundi

Chamber:
    Shostakovich, Complete string Quarters, Emerson Quartet, DG

Choral:
    L Boulanger, Faust et Helene, CBSO Chorus; BBC PO / Yan Pascal
Tortelier, Chandos

Concerto:
    Haydn, Piano Concertos, Norwegian CO / Leif-Ove Andsnes, EMI

Contemporary:
    Carter, Symophonia.  Clarinet Concerto, Michael Collins; London
    Sinfonietta; BBC SO / Oliver Knussen, DG

Instrumental:
    Godowsky, The complete studies on Chopin's Etudes, Marc-Andre Hamelin,
    Hyperion

Opera:
    Szymanowski, King Roger, Soloists; CBSO and Chorus / Sir Simon Rattle, EMI

Orchestral:
    Mahler / Cooke, Symphony No 10, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir
    Simon Rattle, EMI

Recital:
    Verdi Heroines, Angela Gheorghiu; Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi
    / Riccardo Chailly, Decca

Vocal:
    Diamonds in the snow, Barbara Bonney; Antonio Pappano, Decca

Artist of The Year:
    Antonio Pappano

Record of The Year:
    Mahler / Cooke, Symphony No 10, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir
Simon Rattle, EMI

Special Achievement:
    Wagner, Gotterdammerung, from the 1951 by Bayreught released by Testament

ORCHESTRA
The English Chamber Orchestra provided accompaniment for the Awards for the
second year running.  After the success of the orchestra's participation
for the Gramophone Awards 1999, the ECO was invited back, to be the
resident orchestra for the Awards 2000 performance.

GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE
Gramophone magazine is the world's most prestigious classical music
magazine, first published in 1923.  It was bought by Haymarket Publishing
in July 1999.

THE GRAMOPHONE AWARDS: BACKGROUND
The Gramophone Awards  the "Oscars" of the classical music recording
industry calendar - are now in their 23rd year.

The stature and reputation of the event is such that each year it attracts
professional artists of international repute to perform.  The Awards have
been established, not just as a British event, but as Awards which are
recognised throughout the world.  A Gramophone Award has become one of the
most prestigious and sought after awards in classical music.

VOTING PROCESS
A preliminary list rounds up the releases that have been well received
during the eligible period (June 1999 to the end of May 2000).  This
is circulated to a panel of specialist voters who then add any further
potential winners.  The first round of voting, restricted to those
specialist critics, then takes place.  This produces a short list of six
discs per category (12 categories this year) which become the second round
nominees.  They may be voted on by any member of the panel of Gramophone's
contributors.  Anyone who opts into a category receives copies of the
nominated discs and about six weeks to listen to and compare them, then to
vote.  From this emerges the category winners.  The Gramophone Record of
the Year is then calculated from the weight of voting in each category.

SPONSORS
The Gramophone Awards 2000 enjoyed a strong line up of sponsors, showing
significant support for the classical music recording industry:

    - Artist of the Year  sponsored by bol.com
    - Record of the year  sponsored by B&W Loudspeakers
    - Life Time Achievement  sponsored by Britannia Music
    - Orchestral  sponsored by Midem
    - Recital  sponsored by Tower Records
    - Opera  sponsored by R.E.D
    - Classic FM Reader's Awards  sponsored by Classic FM radio

Dave
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http://www.classical.net/