Best Classical Vocal Performance
2026 • 68th Annual Grammy Awards
Honoring recordings released between Aug 31, 2024 and Aug 30, 2025
2026 Winner is Amanda Forsythe with "Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias For Soprano"
Nominees 2026
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Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias For Soprano
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Alike - My Mother's Dream
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Black Pierrot
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In This Short Life
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Kurtág: Kafka Fragments
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Schubert Beatles
Winners
| Year | Winner | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Amanda Forsythe, Robert Mealy, Paul O'Dette, Stephen Stubbs | Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias For Soprano |
| 2025 | Karen Slack, Michelle Cann | Beyond The Years - Unpublished Songs Of Florence Price |
| 2024 | Julia Bullock, Christian Reif | Walking In The Dark |
| 2023 | Renee Fleming, Yannick Nézet-Séguin | Voice Of Nature - The Anthropocene |
| 2022 | Sangeeta Kaur, Hila Plitmann, Danaë Xanthe Vlasse | Mythologies |
| 2021 | Sarah Brailey, Dashon Burton | Smyth: The Prison |
| 2020 | Joyce DiDonato, Chuck Israels, Jimmy Madison, Charlie Porter, Craig Terry | Songplay |
| 2019 | Karim Sulayman, Jeannette Sorrell, Apollo's Fire | Songs Of Orpheus - Monteverdi, Caccini, D'India & Landi |
| 2018 | Barbara Hannigan | Crazy Girl Crazy |
| 2017 | Ian Bostridge | Shakespeare Songs |
| 2017 | Dorothea Röschmann | Schumann & Berg |
| 2016 | Joyce DiDonato | Joyce & Tony - Live From Wigmore Hall |
| 2015 | Anne Sofie Von Otter | Douce France |
| 2014 | Dawn Upshaw | Winter Morning Walks |
| 2013 | Renee Fleming | Poèmes |
| 2012 | Joyce DiDonato | Diva Divo |
| 2011 | Cecilia Bartoli | Sacrificium |
| 2010 | Renee Fleming | Verismo Arias |
| 2009 | Hila Plitmann | Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan |
| 2008 | Lorraine Hunt Lieberson | Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs |
| 2007 | Lorraine Hunt Lieberson | Rilke Songs |
| 2006 | Thomas Quasthoff | Bach: Cantatas |
| 2005 | Susan Graham | Ives: Songs (The Things Our Fathers Loved; The Housatonic At Stockbridge, Etc.) |
| 2004 | Thomas Quasthoff, Anne Sofie von Otter | Schubert: Lieder With Orchestra |
| 2003 | Renée Fleming | Bel Canto - Bellini, Donizetti & Rossini |
| 2002 | Cecilia Bartoli | Dreams & Fables - Gluck Italian Arias: Tremo Fra' Dubbi Miei; Di Questa Cetra In Seno |
| 2001 | Cecilia Bartoli | The Vivaldi Album - Dell'aura al sussurrar, Alma oppressa |
| 2000 | Anne Sofie von Otter & Thomas Quasthoff | Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn |
| 1999 | Renee Fleming | The Beautiful Voice - Works Of Charpentier, Gounod, Massenet & Flotow |
| 1998 | Cecilia Bartoli | An Italian Songbook - Works Of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini |
| 1997 | Bryn Terfel | Opera Arias - Works Of Mozart, Wagner, Borodin |
| 1996 | Sylvia McNair | The Echoing Air - The Music Of Henry Purcell |
| 1995 | Cecilia Bartoli | The Impatient Lover - Italian Songs By Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart |
| 1994 | Arleen Auger | The Art Of Arleen Auger (Works Of Larsen, Purcell, Schumann, Mozart) |
| 1993 | Kathleen Battle | Kathleen Battle At Carnegie Hall (Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Strauss, etc.) |
| 1992 | Dawn Upshaw | The Girl With Orange Lips (Falla, Ravel, etc.) |
| 1991 | Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo & Luciano Pavarotti | Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti In Concert |
| 1990 | Dawn Upshaw | Knoxville - Summer Of 1915 (Music Of Barber, Menotti, Harbison, Stravinsky) |
| 1989 | Luciano Pavarotti | Luciano Pavarotti In Concert |
| 1988 | Kathleen Battle | Kathleen Battle - Salzburg Recital |
| 1987 | Kathleen Battle | Mozart: Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart |
| 1986 | John Aler, tenor | Berlioz: Requiem |
| 1985 | Jose Van Dam, Jessye Norman & Heather Harper | Ravel: Songs Of Maurice Ravel |
| 1984 | Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne | Leontyne Price & Marilyn Horne In Concert At The Met |
| 1983 | Leontyne Price | Verdi: Arias (Leontyne Price Sings Verdi) |
| 1982 | Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland & Luciano Pavarotti | Live From Lincoln Center - Sutherland/Horne/Pavarotti |
| 1981 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Prima Donna, Vol. 5 - Great Soprano Arias From Handel To Britten |
| 1980 | Luciano Pavarotti | O Sole Mio - Favorite Neapolitan Songs |
| 1979 | Luciano Pavarotti | Luciano Pavarotti - Hits From Lincoln Center |
| 1978 | Janet Baker | Bach: Arias |
| 1977 | Beverly Sills, soprano | Herbert: Music Of Victor Herbert |
| 1976 | Janet Baker | Mahler: Kindertotenlieder |
| 1975 | Leontyne Price | Leontyne Price Sings Richard Strauss |
| 1974 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Puccini: Heroines |
| 1973 | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone | Brahms: Die Schone Magelone |
| 1972 | Leontyne Price | Leontyne Price Sings Robert Schumann |
| 1971 | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone | Schubert: Lieder |
| 1970 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Barber: Two Scenes From Antony And Cleopatra/Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 |
| 1969 | Montserrat Caballe, soprano | Rossini: Rarities |
| 1968 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Prima Donna, Volume 2 |
| 1967 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Prima Donna (Works Of Barber, Purcell, Etc.) |
| 1966 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Strauss: Salome (Dance Of The Seven Veils, Interlude, Final Scene)/The Egyptian Helen (Awakening Scene) |
| 1965 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Berlioz: Nuits D'Ete (Song Cycle)/Falla: El Amor Brujo |
| 1964 | Leontyne Price, soprano | Great Scenes From Gershwin's Porgy And Bess |
| 1963 | Eileen Farrell, soprano | Wagner: Gotterdamerung - Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene/Wesendonck Songs |
| 1962 | Joan Sutherland, soprano | The Art Of The Prima Donna |
| 1961 | Leontyne Price | A Program Of Song - Leontyne Price Recital |
| 1960 | Jussi Bjoerling, tenor | Bjoerling In Opera |
| 1959 | Renata Tebaldi, soprano | Operatic Recital |