We are proud to announce that Annelien van Wauwe has won the 2020 OPUS KLASSIK award for Best Young Artist (Clarinet) for the Belle époque album with the Orchestre National de Lille and conductor Alexandre Bloch. The OPUS KLASSIK 2020 award ceremony will take place on 18th October 2020 at the Konzerthaus Berlin. 

Watch Annelien van Wauwe talks about her PENTATONE debut album Belle époque in this promotional video:  

“Now in her early thirties, Annelien Van Wauwe is already a consummate artist and this well-planned disc gives us an excellent view of her technical skill, her musicianship and her lovely tone, even in the altissimo register.” – BBC Music Magazine

Clarinetist Annelien Van Wauwe, former BBC New Generation Artist and winner of the renowned Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2018, is known for her expressive, intensive, lyrical and honest performances. She is considered to be one of the most fascinating and original clarinettists of her generation. She revives the golden glow of a bygone age on her PENTATONE debut album Belle époque, together with the Orchestre National de Lille and its music director Alexandre Bloch. The programme is built around treasures of French turn-of-the-century music such as Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie, Pierné’s Canzonetta and Widor’s Introduction et Rondo (the latter two in arrangements by Jelle Tassyns). Belle époque also offers works that display a spiritual kinship to the age, such as Brahms’s first clarinet sonata, arranged by Luciano Berio, and a world-premiere recording of Paris-based contemporary composer Manfred Trojahn (Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre).

Photo by Marco Borggreve