The 26 prizes International Classical Music Awards 2024 are announced on the 18^th of January 2024. These awards, situated among the most important ones worldwide, were often called "the Oscars of classical music".

"The international and independent jury chose the winners from a 375 nominations list and a wide range of artists and record labels. Our winners symbolize the expression of the highest artistic professionalism, and their list shows us that our jury is not to be pleased with a superficial analysis of the music industry, but a tough one", says Remy Franck, jury president.

The jury gives 10 special awards and 16 awards for audio-video productions. Among the special awards, "Young Interpret of The Year" goes to the Romanian soprano Aida Pascu.

The jury's motivation: "The young Romanian soprano Aida Pascu, 24 years old, surprises with her beautiful lirico-soprano, dark voice, convincing and mature, and also a great stage presence: she has everything she needs to become an opera star. Having graduated from the University of Music in Bucharest and also attending masterclasses with Raina Kabaivanska and Nelly Miricioiu, Aida won numerous prizes at national and international contests for young opera singers. In 2023, she had her successful debut as the protagonist in La Bohème by Puccini at Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest".

This is the second time Romania has had an award at ICMA, after the composer Sebastian Androne Nakanishi won "Composer of the Year" in 2022.

When it comes to the special prizes, each member of the jury has the right to make a proposal, which is to be voted on by all the jury members. Aida Pascu, as well as Sebastian Androne Nakanishi, was proposed in the contest by Cristina Comandașu, the Romanian jury member, and Radio România Muzical manager.

Coming from a family of musicians, also lyrical artists, Aida Pascu is one of the most valuable exponents of the young generation formed at the Romanian school of music. Her latest performance was in Bucharest, at "Maria Callas 100" Gala, organized in the season of the National Radio Orchestra of Romania on the 8^th of December 2022. She can be seen performing as Donna Anna in Don Givanni by Mozart at Opera Brașov on the 27^th of December 2024. In 2021 and 2022, Aida Pascu participated in the contest for the Heirs of Musical Romania award, organized by Radio România Muzical, where she won concerts accompanied by the Orchestra of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting and the Brasov Philharmonic, which took place in March 2022, but also a special recording session at Radio Romania, organized in July 2023.

Aida Pascu will be present in the Radio România Muzical studio on the 18^th of January at 18:00, for a live interview with Gabriel Marica, the host of the Perpetuum mobile show.

The ICMA 2024 special awards list includes Artist of the year, awarded to Renaud Capucon, Label of the year - awarded to Bru Zane record label, Special Achivement Award - awarded to Bruckner, performed under the baton of conductor Marcus Poschner.

On the audio-video awards list are some of the most important names of the international contemporary music life, such as Jordi Savall, Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann, Hilary Hahn, Lars Vogt, Paavo Järvi, François-Xavier Roth, Herbert Blomstedt.

The winners will get their prizes at the ICMA Gala, which takes place on the 12^th of April in Valencia. There will also be a concert where some of the winners will evolve, accompanied by the Valencia Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Liebreich.

16 audio & video productions were awarded. Their list is to be found here.

International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) are among the most famous and appreciated awards of the international discography industry. The jury consists of professional music critics representing the most important magazines, online magazines and radio channels: Andante (Turkey), Crescendo (Belgium), Das Orchester (Germany), Deutsche Welle (Germany), IMZ (Austria), MDR-Klassik (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik & Theater (Switzerland), Opera (Great Britain), Papageno (Hungary), Pizzicato (Luxembourg), Polskie Radio Chopin (Poland), Radio 100,7 (Luxembourg), Radio Romania Muzical (Romania), Remusica.com (France), Scherzo (Spain), Rondo Classic (Finland), Unison (Croatia). A jury member who represents Romania is CristinaComandașu, musicologist with an important activity in the domain of contemporary discography, and she is also the Radio România Muzical manager.