Musical America has announced its 2018 Artist of the Year: Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Andris Nelsons. The 38-year-old Latvian conductor’s professional career began as a trumpeter in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra, before transitioning into conducting.
The magazine also honored Mason Bates, Augustin Hadelich, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Francisco J. Núñez Recognized as Composer, Instrumentalist, Vocalist, and Educator of the Year, respectively.
Past Musical America Musicians/Artists of the Year
1960: Leonard Bernstein
1961: Leontyne Price
1962: Igor Stravinsky
1963: Erich Leinsdorf
1964: Benjamin Britten
1965: Vladimir Horowitz
1966: Yehudi Menuhin
1967: Leopold Stokowski
1968-69: Birgit Nilsson
1970: Beverly Sills
1971: Michael Tilson Thomas
1972: Pierre Boulez
1973: George Balanchine
1974: Sarah Caldwell
1975: Eugene Ormandy
1976: Arthur Rubinstein
1977: Plácido Domingo
1978: Alicia de Larrocha
1979: Rudolf Serkin
1980: Zubin Mehta
1981: Itzhak Perlman
1982: Jessye Norman
1983: Nathan Milstein
1984: James Levine
1985: Philip Glass
1986: Isaac Stern
1987: Mstislav Rostropovich
1988: Sir Georg Solti
1989: Leonard Bernstein
1990: Herbert von Karajan
1991: Gian Carlo Menotti
1992: Robert Shaw
1993: Kurt Masur
1994: Christa Ludwig
1995: Marilyn Horne
1996: The Juilliard String Quartet
1997: James Galway
1998: Seiji Ozawa
1999: André Previn
2000: Carnegie Hall
2001: Martha Argerich
2002: Sir Simon Rattle
2003: Kronos Quartet
2004: Wynton Marsalis
2005: Karita Mattila
2006: Esa-Pekka Salonen
2007: Bernard Haitink
2008: Anna Netrebko
2009: Yo-Yo Ma
2010: Riccardo Muti
2011: Anne-Sophie Mutter
2012: David Finckel and Wu Han
2013: Gustavo Dudamel
2014: Audra McDonald
2015: Peter Sellars
2016: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
2017: Yuja Wang