The International Classical music Awards 2024 awards ceremony and gala, which took place on Friday April 12th at the Palau de la Musica in Valencia, was the meeting point for important names from the world of classical music, artists, managers and record labels.

The Palau de la Musica in Valencia, a complex with a concert hall seating almost 1800 and a chamber music hall seating 400, hosted the 14th ICMA Awards, also known as the Oscars of classical music, which are awarded on strictly professional criteria by an independent jury of 19 members from prestigious European publications and radio stations, including Radio România Muzical.

At the laureates' concert, Orazio Sciortino, composer of the year, Duo Pekinel - Lifetime achievement, tenor Cyrill Dubois - Baroque Vocal Award, violinist Lana Zorjan - Discovery Award, Sharon Bezzaly - piccolo flute, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff - Chamber music, guitarist Cassie Martin - Claseek Award, conductor Sylvain Cambreling - Special Achievement Award, soprano Aida Pascu - Young artist of the year and violinist Renaud Capucon - Artist of the year.

The artists were accompanied by the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its music director Alexandre Liebreich; indeed, one of the highlights of the gala was the performance of the Lever du Jour moment from Maurice Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2 by this compact, convincing-sounding orchestra. As was the Alleluia from Olivier Messiaen's Ascension, an impressive moment offered by the Valencian Orchestra conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. The evening ended with a Spanish premiere performance of a piece by Charlotte Sohy, a French composer who lived between 1887 and 1955, an extraordinary proposal by the artist of the year, violinist Renaud Capucon.

But without a doubt, the revelation of the evening was soprano Aida Pascu's performance of Elvira's aria from Act I of Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani.

Joel Valkila, product manager of Finnish record label Ondine: We listened to a lot of different tracks with some very talented and well-known artists. I think the audience really liked what they heard today.

Something special.A Finnish guy speaking Romanian. How did you come to learn Romanian?

Because of my wife. The first time I was in Romania I only had a dictionary with me and little by little I learned the language. Romania is a second country for me.

You speak Romanian very well. We also had a winning Romanian soprano.How did you find it?

Very talented and I think she has a good future.

Salvatore Picchiredu, Naxos Group Communications Manager: I liked the stars I saw today. It was great to see Renaud Capucon, Tanja Tetzlaff, Sylvain Cambreling in one event of extraordinary quality. I also really liked the young artist of the year, the magical Aida Pascu. You've done a great job choosing her, she's very, very talented. She could have a great career. She's a very charismatic artist with an extraordinary technique. I really liked what I heard. Being Italian, when she sang Verdi, she convinced me.

Floor van der Holst, Out here music group communications manager: The concert was wonderful, every moment was different, with such different artists, repertoire and instruments, musicians of different ages, a violinist only 15 years old. Who did I like the most? The soprano and Verdi. It was amazing. The extended notes were so powerful and deep, with a high register that made you feel like she was whispering like an angel.

Catarina Amon, founder of the platform for promoting young musicians, Claseek: I really enjoyed the concert. It was a real discovery for me, with so many young artists and a beautiful repertoire that I had never heard before. It's really a real platform for young musicians to assert themselves. I really liked Aida Pascu, she has a beautiful voice and an incredible talent. And of course the young artist I sent to the competition, guitarist Cassie Martin. Aida Pascu will participate in the Claseek programme next year, thanks to the partnership with the ICMA jury, we are very excited to have her in the Claseek programme. We will talk to her, see what her needs and projects are. Then we will come up with a programme adapted to her needs. Of course, there will also be a concert and everything that can be built around it: a photo shoot that we hope will be useful for her in the future, interviews and mentoring, depending on the artist's needs.

Robert von Bahr, owner of Bis Records: I was very impressed by several moments during the concert, including the one featuring soprano Aida Pascu from Romania. I was totally impressed by her low register and the ambit of her voice. But not only that, but also the expression she brought to Elvira's aria in Ernani. It is something I would like very much: to see and hear Aida Pascu again".

Daniela Tender:

It's a special evening here in Valencia.Why did you choose to be with our Romanian winner?

Because I love opera music very much. I love music in general, but opera music in particular, and I thought that both for me and for Romania this is a more than fascinating, worthy and extraordinary event.

How did Aida Pascu introduce herself? How did you find her?

I thought she was the sensation of the evening. I'm very proud to know Aida and that she managed to bring the audience and the orchestra to their feet tonight.

Soprano Aida Pascu was nominated for the Young artist of the year award by the Romanian member of the jury, Cristina Comandașu, manager of Radio Romania Muzical.

Cristina Comandașu: "I met Aida Pascu thanks to the competition for the Musical Romania's Heirs scholarship, a project of Radio România Muzical and Rotary Club Pipera. Soprano Aida Pascu participated for the first time in the competition for the Heirs of Musical Romania scholarship in 2021. She was then awarded concerts at the Sala Radio and Filarmonica in Brasov, performed in 2022, one of them celebrating Radio România Muzical's 25th anniversary. He participated in the competition for the Heirs of Musical Romania scholarship in 2022 as well, winning a special recording session in the summer of 2023 with pianist Gabriel Gîțan. In January 2023 we also nominated her for Young artist of the year 2024, and after the jury's vote, we knew as early as April 2023 that she would be the young artist of the year 2024 at one of the world's best known and most highly regarded awards galas in the world of cult music. I believe that Aida Pascu has a high-calibre career ahead of her and I hope that the award she received in Valencia will be an important brick in the building of her international career. This is a great success for Romania, in the elite of world music, starting from a Romanian project, the Heirs of Musical Romania, supported by Radio România Muzical, the public radio station that truly understands how to serve human and world values, with all the instruments at its disposal."

Aida Pascu is the protagonist of an extraordinary recital organised by Radio România Muzical as part of the Heirs of Musical Romania project on Thursday April 18th, 18.00, at the Cotroceni National Museum, an event broadcast live by Radio România Muzical. The video will be available from 30 April on the Radio România Muzical youtube account.

The concert of the ICMA 2024 winners will be available from May 3rd on the Deutsche Welle youtube account.

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