Thursday, November 07, 2024
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2011 Top Female Artist

Top Female Artist : Hayley Westenra

Editor says: 2011 marks the tenth anniversary of Hayley Westenra's time in the music industry - and it's been a packed decade for the New Zealander.  2011 in particular has seen her release a ground breaking, top quality album on an international level.  She has sold millions of albums all across the world and her influence in the classical crossover genre is easy to see, as new artists follow her footsteps and use her original repertoire.

Runner Up Nominees

2010 was an explosive year for Jackie Evancho, catapulting her name, and the classical crossover genre with it, into the mainstream in America.  2011 saw her release her first full length major album under the experienced hand of David Foster. Dream With Me is a faithful crossover effort, solidifying the identity of the genre to the masses whilst offering a few new songs and wonderful adaptations for the already well versed fans.
Representing the Far East is the highly creative Kanon.  2011 gave us A New Story, the first album of hers to be released in the West.  A project similar to Westenra's Paradiso (she worked exclusively with Ennio Morricone), A New Story was written by both Kanon and Japanese superstar game composer Nobuo Uematsu, delivering sounds and melodies that are new to the Western classical crossover audience.

With another fantastic album release this year in Daydream, Katherine Jenkins is once again one of the forerunners for this award.  Jenkins is very much the "representative" of classical crossover in the mainstream media and since her departure from Universal, has become more experimental and varied with her music under the American Warner label.  2011 has also seen Jenkins take her career to an international level as she continues to inspire upcoming and current CC artists from the world over.

A Westerner that brings Eastern flavours back to the West.  On a major label.  With all original songs.  For many of which she has writing credits.  She may have not made as big an impact as her fellow nominees (yet!) but Mary-Jess sets an exciting precedent.  2011 had her quietly release Shine for the UK market but fireworks are bound to be set off when she arrives back in China, where 70 million people are eagerly awaiting her return.

Notation
The winner of this award was determined by the Editor of Classical-Crossover.co.uk.