BBC Music Magazine Awards Announces 2025 Winners

Pianist Yunchan Lim has won the Instrumental Award, Newcomer Award, and Recording of the Year

Now in its 20th year, the annual BBC Music Magazine Awards is one of the only classical music recording awards where the public votes for the main categories. 

This year’s winners were recently presented at the Kings Place in London during a live ceremony, which also featured live performances from Chamber Award winners Nicholas Daniel and Julius Drake, as well as the Bevan Family Consort.

The 2025 category winners are:

Newcomer Award, Instrumental Award, and Recording of the Year

• Yunchan Lim, piano | Chopin Études, Opp 10 & 25, on Decca 

Personality of the Year

• Errollyn Wallen, composer

Orchestral Award

• Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov | “Smetana: Má vlast” (Pentatone)

Concerto Award

• Vilde Frang, violin; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Robin Ticciati | “Elgar Violin Concerto” (Warner Classics)

Opera Award

• Karine Deshayes; Karina Gauvin et al; Les Talens Lyriques; Flemish Radio Choir/Christophe Rousset | “Louise Bertin: Fausto” (Bru Zane) 

Choral Award

• Nicky Spence et al; Gabrieli Consort and Players/Paul McCreesh | “Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius” (Signum Classics)

Vocal Award

• Elsa Dreisig, soprano; Romain Louveau, piano; et al | “Rita Strohl Songs, Volume I” (La Boîte à Pépites)

Chamber Award

• Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Julius Drake, piano | “C Schumann • R Schumann Works for Oboe and Piano” (Chandos) 

Premiere Award

• Fenella Humphreys, violin; BBC Philharmonic/Michael Seal | Adrian Sutton Violin Concerto*; Five Theatre Miniatures; A Fistful of Fives; War Horse Suite; Short Story (Chandos)

“Given that 2024 saw the release of many outstanding albums, I did not expect this outcome at all, and I’m so grateful,” said Lim on his win. “I strive always to harmonize what my heart tells me with what my mind dictates.”

“In 20 years of BBC Music Magazine Awards, this is the first time that a performer has walked away with three prizes for a single album,” added Charlotte Smith, editor of BBC Music Magazine. “And that the artist at the centre of these three prestigious awards should just have celebrated his 21st birthday is downright astonishing. But Yunchan Lim is no ordinary artist.”