Dawn Upshaw and the Australian Chamber Orchestra picked up a remarkable three awards at the 56th Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles earlier. In a triumph that would confound most bookies their recording of Maria Schneider’s song cycle Winter Morning Walks won in all three categories in which it had been nominated. Upshaw won for Best Classical Vocal Solo while the work was recognised as Best Contemporary Classical Composition and it carried off the Best Engineered Album (Classical) award as well. The album’s producer David Frost also won Producer of the Year.

Timothy Calnin, ACO General Manager said the company was “thrilled” to have been recogised in this way. “We were immensely proud to be co-commissioners of Winter Morning Walks and to give a series of performances in the US last year prior to making the recording with Dawn in New York,” he said. Australian audiences will have the opportunity to hear these beautiful songs next month when Dawn Upshaw tours the country for the work’s Australian premiere.

Remarkably the recording is on ArtistShare, a fan-funded crowdsourcing label favoured by Schneider. “It feels amazing to have accomplished all of this through ArtistShare’s fan-funding,” she said. “I know of no one...