Violinist Richard Tognetti and early keyboard specialist Erin Helyard have won the award for Best Classical Album at the 2020 ARIA Awards for their album of Beethoven and Mozart Violin Sonatas, with Helyard playing fortepiano, on ABC Classic.

Richard Tognetti and Erin Helyard in performanceRichard Tognetti and Erin Helyard. Photo © Prudence Upton

In his glowing review for Limelight, Will Yeoman described Tognetti and Helyard’s HIP account of Beethoven’s Kreuzer Sonata as “one of the most thrilling recent accounts of one of Beethoven’s most thrilling chamber works.”

Tognetti and Helyard’s album has already met with plenty of success – it was named Limelight’s Recording of the Month in March and went on to take out the prize for Best Independent Classical Album or EP at the 2020 AIR Awards.

Also nominated in the Best Classical Album category were recorder player Alicia Crossley’s Muse, Jayson Gillham’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Carter, and Helyard’s collaboration with baritone David Greco, Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin song cycle.

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