In reporting on Sunday’s 68th Annual Grammy Awards, SF Classical Voice will take the liberty of focusing first on news of classical music.
We do favor the vaguely-defined “classics,” despite the lamentable Grammy tradition of listing (and treating) the genre dead last among its 95 categories. It's well remembered here that, until Beyoncé came out on top, the late conductor Georg Solti held the record for most Grammys won for decades, with 74 nominations and 31 wins.
The 2026 classical winners were announced in the afternoon during the streamed Premiere Ceremony, which had a few thousand viewers, rather than during the televised evening on CBS, which is estimated to have an audience of 15 million. (Emcee Trevor Noah announced that after a 54-year-long run, CBS will not carry the Grammy’s next year.)
The big news among classical winners was the illustrious San Francisco composer Jake Heggie, 64, winning Best Opera Recording for his work, Intelligence, with Houston Grand Opera.
With a libretto by Gene Scheer, the production was created in collaboration with director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The recording, conducted by Kwamé Ryan, features soprano Janai Brugger and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the Civil War-era story’s pair of unlikely partner spies: a slave and a member of a Confederate family.
Recorded live during the opera’s world premiere run at the Wortham Theater Center in 2023, and released in August, 2025, the Intelligence album is the first release from the new Houston Grand Opera label, created in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra’s renowned label, LSO Live.
The other classical award winners are as follows:
Best Engineered Album, Classical: Cerrone, Don't Look Down
Producer of the Year, Classical: Elaine Martone
Best Instrumental Composition: Remy Le Boeuf, First Snow
Best Arrangement Instrumental: Super Mario Praise Break
Best Orchestral Performance: Olivier Messiaen, Turangalîla (Andris Nelsons/ Boston Symphony Orchestra)
Best Choral Performance: Gabriela Ortiz, Yanga (Gustavo Dudamel/ LA Philharmonic)
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: "Land of Winter"
Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Yo-Yo Ma, Shostakovich Cello Concerto
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Amanda Forsythe, Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias for Soprano
Best Classical Compendium: Gabriela Ortiz, Yanga (Gustavo Dudamel/ LA Philharmonic)
Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Gabriela Ortiz, Yanga (Gustavo Dudamel/LA Philharmonic)
Relevant winners in other genre categories include:
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: Brightside
Best Music Film: Music by John Williams
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television): Sinners, Ludwig Göransson, composer
Best Historical Album: Joni Mitchell Archives — Volume 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)
Best Americana Performance: "Godspeed", Mavis Staples
Best Americana Album: Big Money, Jon Batiste
Best Musical Theater Album: Buena Vista Social Club
Best Jazz Vocal Album: Portrait, Samara Joy
Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Southern Nights, Sullivan Fortner featuring Peter Washington and Marcus Gilmore
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: Without Further Ado, Vol. 1, Christian McBride Big Band
Best Latin Jazz Album: A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta and Joey Calveiro
Best Alternative Jazz Album: Live-Action, Nate Smith
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: A Matter of Time, Laufey
Of the headline news:
Bad Bunny, scheduled to star in the Super Bowl LX halftime show in Santa Clara on Sunday, won Album of the Year for his Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I should have taken more photos). He is the first Spanish-language artist to win the top Grammy prize. During his acceptance speech, the artist dedicated the award to “all the people who had to leave their homeland.”
Kendrick Lamar won Record of the Year for Luther with SZA. He also won Best Rap Album for GNX, and three other rap awards.
Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell won Song of the Year with “Wildflower." This is the sister/ brother duo’s 10th Grammy win, and third songwriting award.
Jelly Roll won Best Contemporary Country Album for Beautifully Broken.
British singer Lola Young won Best Pop Solo Performance with “Messy,” beating out Lady Gaga and other major stars.
“Golden,” from KPop Demon Hunters, took Best Song Written for Visual Media, making it the first ever K-pop song to win a Grammy.
