Music of Paul Juon recorded by Lamont faculty, submitted for Grammy consideration

Earlier this year, Toccata Records released "Paul Juon: Chamber Music for Viola." It featured Lamont faculty members Basil Vendryes, viola, and Igor Pikayzen, violin. It was also engineered in part by recent Lamont grad Athena Wilkinson for Evergroove Recording in Evergreen, Colorado.

This album has been submitted for Grammy consideration in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical. For this step, record labels submit a handful of their releases from the past year to be considered. The next step in the process will be to become an actual Grammy nominee. 2023 nominees will be announced on Tuesday, November 13; the Grammy award ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 5, 2023. 

"It is quite an honor to be considered in the first round of the Grammy nomination process along with so many other amazing artists," said Basil Vendryes. "This is my second disc for Toccata and it has been a dream to work with such wonderful friends and colleagues. Having a Lamont/DU presence is great--it says a lot about our faculty, our alumni and our standard of excellence!"

"I am very grateful to Basil for introducing me to Paul Juon and having me be a part of this project with such marvelous colleagues," said Igor Pikayen. "It would always have been special to record with Basil, Bill and the Evergroove crew, but doing it during the pandemic, when I was deprived of chamber music for so long, made it all the more memorable."

"It was wonderful to tie in my educational roots with my professional career as an engineer," said Athena Wilkinson. "It was, and continues to be, an honor to work with musicians who strive for the same level of excellence that the Evergroove team works to produce."

View details of the record here.

Listen to the record here.

Read a review from The Strad.