Jonas Kaufmann (Male Singer of the Year), Joyce DiDonato (Female Singer of the Year), Elīna Garanča (Solo Recording of the Year/Voice), Lang Lang (Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano as well as honored with a Special Award for the Lang Lang International Music Foundation), Andreas Ottensamer (Instrumentalist of the Year/Clarinet), Maurice Steger (Instrumentalist of the Year/Flute) and David Zinman (Conductor of the Year) are among the prize winners of the ECHO Klassik 2015. The names of the award recipients were announced today by Germany's Federal Music Industry Association, the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), in Berlin. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2015 as part of a festive gala at the Konzerthaus Berlin and broadcast at 10pm that same evening on the German public television channel ZDF. The ceremony will be hosted by Rolando Villazón and Nina Eichinger. Visit www.echoklassik.de to see which of this year's prize winners will perform at the gala evening together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Advanced ticket sales for the ceremony are scheduled to begin in mid-September.

"Congratulations to all the winners of the ECHO Klassik 2015! We are delighted that the final decisions made by our jury once again reflect the tremendous range of classical music and the diversity of the prize itself," says Dr. Florian Drücke, BVMI Managing Director. "The promotion of young talent is one of our greatest priorities, and the jury has once again set the tone for years to come. Indeed, a look at the list of prize winners shows that the award has often been a stepping stone for a successful career."

The Categories "Newcomer of the Year" and "Fostering of Young Talent Award" are Key Priorities of the ECHO Klassik

The prize winners in the category "Newcomer of the Year" are Bryan Hymel (Singer), Sonya Yoncheva (Singer), Florian Noack (Piano), Sophie Pacini (Piano) and Nemanja Radulović (Violin). The “Fostering of Young Talent Awards” go to Classic Scouts and the Freie Grundschule Wernigerode. The "Classics for Children" prize goes to the recording of "Des Kaisers Nachtigall" by Helbling Verlag featuring Uģis Prauliņš, Michala Petri, Malte Arkona, Klaas Stok and the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart.

The jury of industry experts will also award prizes for outstanding recordings made by Tianwa Yang, the Kronos Quartet, Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Avi Avital, Vilde Frang, Alexandre Tharaud, Isabelle Faust with the Freiburger Barockorchester conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, Emmanuel Pahud, the Norddeutscher Kammerchor, Steffen Schleiermacher, Grigory Sokolov, Valer Sabadus with the Hofkapelle München conducted by Alessandro De Marchi, the casalQuartett, the Concert Royal Köln, Dorothee Oberlinger with her Ensemble 1700 and Vittorio Ghielmi with Il suonar parlante and the Trio Lézard, among others. David Garrett will be honored in the category "Bestseller of the Year" for his album "Timeless - Brahms & Bruch Violin Concertos."

ECHO Klassik– A Gathering of National and International Classical Music Stars

The ECHO Klassik is one of the most prestigious and prominent music awards in the world. In 2015, it will be handed out for the 22nd time in a row. Each year, a virtual who's-who of the classical music scene attends the glamorous gala. This year, the ECHO Klassik will be held on October 18, 2015 at the Konzerthaus Berlin.

The German music-industry body known as the Deutsche Phono-Akademie – the cultural institute of the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) – has honored outstanding performances by national and international artists at the ECHO Klassik award annually since 1994. The prize winners are chosen by a jury consisting of prominent industry experts. Among the other key goals of the ECHO Klassik – in addition to recognizing extraordinary recordings – is to use the prestigious award to foster young talent and bring the fascination and diversity of classical music to a broader audience.