The Association of the Belgian Music Press didn't just undergo important rejuvenation; after taking a year off, it took the initiative to award the Cecilia Prizes annually again and continue the long-standing tradition. The association was hosted in the Foyer of De Munt to announce the honored CDs and the Musician of the Year and celebrate them in style.

Young chairman Jasper Croonen, who once cut his teeth as a critic at Klassiek Centraal, smoothly led the bilingual evening where one prize followed another. Some of the laureates sent a video message that always conveyed genuine gratitude, while other winners were present or sent a representative.

It was an outstanding harvest of CDs. The "Young Female Musician of the Year 2025," soprano Gwendoline Blondeel, was incidentally the musical highlight of the ceremony with her performance of two refined arias by Gabriel Fauré, accompanied by Julien Libeer. She also deserved a medal for her acclaimed CD "Amor Eterno." An original selection of songs by, among others, Caccini, Charpentier, Desprez, Marais, and Monteverdi. Great art in a small package, wrote a jury member about it. On Klara called "a jewel." In this Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, which suits her perfectly, she can rely on the lute and harp of Quito Gato. Trained at the Royal Institute of Music and Art (IMEP) in Namur, she had the opportunity to gain professional experience at the MM Academy of De Munt. And then things took off quickly, with the Opéra Royale de Versailles now often serving as her musical home base.

In this edition of the Cecilia Prizes, a total of 12 CDs from major labels such as Harmonia Mundi and Warner/Erato were honored. A notable recording, for instance, with "Songs of Passion" by John Dowland and Henry Purcell performed by Lea Desandre and Thomas Dunford with the Jupiter Ensemble. When feeling melancholic, listening will undoubtedly give you goosebumps. Another Erato production with none other than Joyce DiDonato and Michel Spyres also received a Cecilia Medal. This "Dido and Aeneas" CD turns out to be a remarkably energetic and theatrical interpretation. For the same label, two top pianists played four-hand Schubert: Bertrand Chamayou and Leif Ove Andsnes. With their astounding musical understanding, this brilliant French and Norwegian duo also counted among the deserving laureates.

Pianist Beatrice Rana made the honor roll with her surprising and convincing interpretation of Bach's "Keyboard Concertos" on a modern grand piano, likewise in perfect harmony with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. "Visiting Rachmaninoff" is an awarded CD that can delight many lovers of this composer, featuring Alexander Melnikov at the piano with his "Variations on a Theme by Chopin" and soprano Julia Lezhneva with the "Romances." He subtle as always, she practically giving a singing lesson.

CD productions from Belgian labels rightly took home prizes. The Colonna-Händel CD with the Missa Concertata and Dixit Dominus featuring, among others, the Choir of Namur under the brilliant direction of Leonardo García-Alarcón, everything recorded—soloists, choir members, and instrumentalists—in the Grand Manège of Namur. The double album, released by Cypres, with lesser-known piano works by Debussy performed by Elodie Vignon, is a monument of rare coherence for her favorite composer. A first milestone in a new complete edition of that piano work. Elodie Vignon played for those present a brief excerpt from her recording "l'œuvre pour piano" by Claude Debussy. That was a coup de cœur prize, just like the Cecilia Prize for French-Egyptian violist Sindy Mohamed. It is a debut album together with pianist Julien Quentin. She is currently active in Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and a rare example of a successful fusion.

The Irish composer-pianist John Field deserved a new recording of his complex nocturnes, and it earned German pianist Alice Sara Ott, with her subtle tonal shifts and refined pedal technique, a Cecilia Prize. French violinist Stéphanie-Marie Legrand brilliantly brought the violin concertos of her virtuoso predecessor Jean-Marie Leclerc (1697-1764) to life in intense harmony with La Diane Française.

This is an honor roll worth seeing and hearing, and it is based on more than 100 submissions from critics and members of the Association of the Belgian Music Press. It's a pity that they didn't pay more attention to the many excellent Belgian productions that did exist in 2025 and among which there might still be hidden gems. But full credit to the winners. It was nice to hear several video messages from artists such as Béatrice Rana, Sindy Mohamed, Isabelle Faust, Joyce DiDonato, and a couple of label representatives expressing their thanks for the award.

Below you will find the list of laureates as carefully selected and compiled by the jury.

Jury Composition

• Jasper Croonen, Chairman VBMP, De Standaard, BRUZZ
• Roger Creyf, Klassiek-Centraal
• Helena Gaudeus, Klassiek-Centraal
• Patrice Lieberman, Crescendo
• Martine Dumont-Mergeay, La Libre, Musiq3

LAUREATES

CD

Eternal Love (1 CD Harmonia Mundi)
Caccini, Calestani, Capirola, Certon, Charpentier, d'Ambruys, Del Biado, del Encina, Desprez, Janequin, Kapsberger, Marais, Marín, Milán, Monteverdi, Mudarra, Ortiz, Piccinini, Spinacino, Vásquez

Gwendoline Blondeel, Quito Gato, Mathilde Vialle, Pernelle Marzorati, Laurent Sauron

Songs of Passion – John Downland, Henry Purcell (2 CD Erato)
Lea Desandre, Thomas Dunford
Jupiter

Henri Purcell – Dido & Aeneas (1 CD Erato)
Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres, Fatma Said, Beth Taylor, Hugh Cutting, Laurence Kilsby
Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev

Johann Sebastian Bach – Keyboard Concertos BWV 1052 to 1054 and BWV 1056 (1 CD Harmonia Mundi)
Beatrice Rana, Amsterdam Sinfonietta

George Frideric Handel – Dixit Dominus & Giovanni Paolo Colonna – Missa Concertata (1 CD Ricercar)
Elizaveta Sveshnikova, Mariana Flores, Paul-Antoine Béros-Djian, Valerio Contaldo, André Morsch
Cappella Mediterranea, Chamber Choir of Namur
Leonardo García-Alarcón

Jean-Marie Leclair – Complete Violin Concertos (3 CD NoMadMusic)
Stéphanie-Marie Degand and La Diane Française

John Field – Complete Nocturnes (1 CD Deutsche Grammophon)
Alice Sara Ott

A Visit with Rachmaninoff (1 CD Harmonia Mundi)
Sergei Rachmaninov – Variations on a Theme by Chopin. Romances
Alexander Melnikov, Julia Lezhneva

Franz Schubert – 4 Hands (1 CD Erato)
Fantasia D.940, Allegro D.947 « Life's Storms », Fugue D.952, Rondo D.951
Bertrand Chamayou, Leif Ove Andsnes

György Ligeti – Concertos (1 CD Harmonia Mundi)
Isabelle Faust, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth

Favorites

Farasha (1 CD BR Klassik)
Breville, Hindemith, Mendelssohn, Al Kammar, Saint-Saëns
Sindy Mohamed, Julien Quentin

Claude Debussy (2CD – Cypres)
Golden Evenings, Monsieur Debussy, Works for Piano (Vol. 1)
Elodie Vignon

Young Musician of the Year Award

(In collaboration with Bozar)

The Young Musician of the Year Award is alternately presented to a Dutch-speaking musician and a French-speaking or German-speaking musician.

Gwendoline Blondeel, soprano

While she is a sought-after interpreter of 17th and 18th-century music, she explores a much broader repertoire. She is a master of the French Baroque repertoire (Sangaride in Lully's Atys, Jonathas in Charpentier's David et Jonathas, Alphise in Rameau's Les Boréades, etc.), and shines equally in Italian masterpieces (La Musica in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Almirena in Rinaldo, Dalinda in Ariodante, and Morgana in Handel's Alcina, etc.). In later roles, Gwendoline Blondeel captivated audiences as Blondchen in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen, Marie in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, Clorinda in Rossini's Cinderella, or in Mendelssohn's Second Symphony.

The Opéra Royal de Versailles (a true musical home for her), the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Beaune Festival, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Zurich Opera, the Concert Halls of Amsterdam and Bruges, or the Konzerthaus in Vienna: Gwendoline performs at the most prestigious musical institutions and collaborates with leading conductors such as Leonardo García-Alarcón, Stéphane Fuget, Christophe Rousset, Diego Fasolis, Philippe Herreweghe, Sébastien Daucé, Thomas Hengelbrock, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Kazushi Ono.