DHAKA: Trumpeter Alison Balsom has become the first British woman to win artist of the year at the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

‘I’m so thrilled. I could not think of a better way to end the best summer of my life,’ she said, reports the BBC.

Balsom made her debut at Shakespeare’s Globe earlier this year with Gabriel.

The musician collected her award, which is regarded as the most important of the classical music world, at a ceremony in central London on Tuesday.

Recording of the year went to a tribute to the astronauts killed in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in February 2003.

All seven astronauts on board died when the spacecraft disintegrated while re-entering the Earth`s atmosphere.

The album, Seven, by Moldovan virtuoso violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, was chosen from more than 800 new releases.

Other winners chosen by music critics and members of the industry included Decca, which picked up label of the year.

Judges praised the label, home to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Nicola Benedetti, for ‘renewing tradition, nurturing musicians and enriching lives’.

BDST: 1342 HRS, SEPT 18, 2013
RoR/BSK