Boston Symphony Orchestra Takes Home Two GRAMMYs

The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announced it has won two GRAMMY awards. The BSO and BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons were honored for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the BSO, and Nelsons also won in the Best Classical Instrumental category for their Shostakovich Cello Concertos album.

According to an NBC10 Boston report, the BSO's DG recording of Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie was recorded at Boston's Symphony Hall in April 2024 and released on Dec. 6, 2024. The recording of the Shostakovich cello concertos with Yo-Yo Ma, recorded at Symphony Hall in October 2023, was released as a standalone recording. This recognition marks Ma's 20th GRAMMY Award over his musical career.

Anthony Fogg, vice president of artistic planning for the BSO, called the work by Messiaen a “giant piece,” according to GBH. The 70-minute work debuted in 1958 and was originally commissioned by the BSO's musical director at the time. It included a piano soloist playing the Ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument that Fogg said was one of the “precursors of the synthesizer.”

“My hearty congratulations to our music director, Andris Nelsons, the extraordinary musicians of the BSO, our dear friends Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, Cécile Lartigau, and the technical teams who so expertly capture that singular BSO sound,” Boston Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Chad Smith said in a statement shared with NBC10 Boston. “The BSO is one of the most recorded orchestras in the world, and its earliest offering, from 1917, was the first of its kind by an American orchestra. Today, we are thrilled that this tradition of excellence and innovation continues to be recognized by the Recording Academy with 2026 GRAMMY Awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Classical Instrumental Solo.”

This year's GRAMMY Awards bring the BSO's total to 13. The orchestra's last GRAMMY wins came in 2019.