Recording artist and Cal Poly Pomona Music Professor Nadia Shpachenko won the Grammy® Award for Best Classical Compendium for her contemporary classical CD “The Poetry of Places” at the 62^nd annual Grammy Awards Premier Ceremony on January 26.

The award for Best Classical Compendium also recognized the work of producers Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin, and Barry Werger-Gottesman, Shpachenko’s husband and the chief engineer on the CD. All received Grammy Awards.

“The Poetry of Places” features eight world premiere recordings of compositions by award-winning American composers Amy Beth Kirsten, Hannah Lash, James Matheson, Harold Meltzer, Andrew Norman, Lewis Spratlan, Nina C. Young and Jack Van Zandt.

Each music work was inspired by a unique building: American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore, MD), Aaron Copland’s House (Cortlandt, NY), House on Island (Pine Plains, NY), Frank Gehry’s IAC Building (Manhattan, NY), Frank Gehry’s House (Santa Monica, CA), Louis Kahn’s National Assembly Buildings (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Lowell House at Harvard (Cambridge, MA), and Newgrange Ancient Temple (Boyne Valley, Ireland).

Shpachenko said she often feels attuned to the spaces where she performs, drawn to the ornamentation, history, light and sound of a concert hall. Through her most recent project, she found out that she is not alone. 

“The music on this album is exciting, diverse and adventurous,” she said. “The composers use many unusual instruments, such as the toy piano in Kirsten’s “h.o.p.e.” or the handmade percussion instruments in “Frank’s House,” all made of materials that Frank Gehry’s house features, including plywood, chain link fencing and corrugated metal.”

The album was recorded at Skywalker Sound and released on the Reference Recordings label.

Shpachenko was previously nominated for the 58th Grammy Awards for her debut Reference Recordings CD “Woman at the New Piano: American Music of 2013” in the categories Best Classical Compendium and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. That album and “The Poetry of Places” were also nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical. 

A distinguished chamber musician, Shpachenko has played with orchestras throughout America and Europe. She frequently collaborates with prominent artists, most recently including Boris Allakhverdyan, Sarah Cahill, Martin Chalifour, Jin-Shan Dai, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Vijay Gupta, Dahae Kim, Jerome Lowenthal, Kathleen Supové, Ben Ullery, and the Lyris and Argus Quartets. Her recent collaborative performances were featured on Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Series and the Hear Now Music Festival.

At Cal Poly Pomona, Shpachenko leads the piano performance program and was awarded the 2017 Provost’s Award for Creative and Scholarly Activities. 

For more information about the album, visit http://nadiashpachenko.com/recordings-the-poetry-of-places/.