Joshua Bell, James Ehnes and Christina Day Martinson nominated for 2019 Grammys

By Laurie Niles: Congratulations to violinists Joshua Bell, James Ehnes and Christina Day Martinson, who each were nominated for awards in the 61st Annual Grammys, which will take place in February. All nominees were announced Friday morning by the Recording Academy; click here for a complete list of Classical Grammy nominations for 2019. Bell, Ehnes and Martinson each were nominated in the "Best Classical Instrumental Solo" category; and several composers also were nominated for works for violin in the "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" category, including Aaron Jay Kernis for his Violin Concerto, played by Ehnes; and Missy Mazzoli for her Vespers for Violin, played by Olivia De Prato. A number of string ensembles also were nominated in the "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" category, including the Kronos Quartet with Laurie Anderson; the Danish String Quartet, the New York based Aizuri Quartet and the Boston Ensemble A Far Cry. Also, filmmaker Alison Chernick was nominated for her documentary about Itzhak Perlman in the "Best Music Film" category. Here is a list of those Grammy-nominated recordings and film:

• Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46; Violin Concerto No. 1 In G Minor, Op. 26 Joshua Bell The Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields
• Newton Howard & Kernis: Violin Concertos Track: Kernis Violin Concerto James Ehnes, violin Seattle Symphony; Ludovic Morlot, conducting
• Biber: The Mystery Sonatas Christina Day Martinson, violin Boston Baroque; Martin Pearlman conducting
• Streya Track: Vespers for Violin Olivia De Prato, violin Missy Mazzoli, composer
• Landfall Kronos Quartet Laurie Anderson
• Prism 1: Beethoven, Shostakovich, Bach Danish String Quartet
• BlueprintingAizuri Quartet
• Visions and VariationsA Far Cry
• Itzhak Itzhak Perlman, violinistAlison Chernick, video director and producer

This year's nominees were selected from more than 21,000 submissions across 84 categories. The final round of GRAMMY voting is Dec. 13, 2018–Jan 9, 2019. The Recording Academy will present the GRAMMY Awards at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Feb. 10, live from Los Angeles' STAPLES Center and broadcast on the CBS Television Network .You might also like:

• For the Record, Op. 60: Joshua Bell's 'Scottish Fantasy'
• Inside 'Itzhak’: Interview with Alison Chernick about Her Documentary on Itzhak Perlman
• The Week in Reviews, Op. 176: Reviews of James Ehnes live performance of the Kernis Violin Concerto