Boston Symphony Orchestra leads 2026 classical Grammy results as major U.S. ensembles share top categories

Boston’s wins came in two high-profile classical fields

The 68th Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026, delivered a strong showing for major U.S. classical institutions, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) securing two awards that placed it at the center of the night’s classical results.

The BSO and music director Andris Nelsons won Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. In a second win, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Nelsons and the BSO took Best Classical Instrumental for Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos, a release built around Dmitri Shostakovich’s two concertos for cello.

How the winning projects were built

The Turangalîla-Symphonie recording was captured at Symphony Hall in April 2024 and released Dec. 6, 2024. The project marked a milestone tied to the work’s early history in Boston: the BSO gave the symphony’s world premiere on Dec. 2, 1949, with Leonard Bernstein conducting.

The Shostakovich cello-concertos album was part of a broader Shostakovich recording initiative released in 2025 that included new concerto recordings as well as a wider anthology of the composer’s orchestral works.

Where Los Angeles and Houston fit into the national picture

Los Angeles’ classical profile has been prominent in recent Grammy cycles, reflecting a broader pattern in which a relatively small number of large orchestras and opera companies repeatedly appear in top categories. In the year prior to the 2026 ceremony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic won Best Orchestral Performance for Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina, one of several awards tied to that project.

Houston’s long-standing presence in Grammy-recognized classical recording is rooted in earlier eras of the awards as well. Historically, the Houston Grand Opera has earned major recognition in the Grammys’ classical fields, including a Best Opera Recording win for a production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess during the late 1970s.

What the classical categories suggest about the Grammys’ structure

The 2026 results underscored how the Grammys’ classical awards often reward multi-year recording strategies that combine large-scale repertoire, high production values, and marquee collaborators. In practice, major orchestral categories tend to be shaped by: the selection of repertory that invites large forces and extended studio or live-capture preparation; the visibility of conductors with established recording partnerships; and the ability of institutions to sustain long-running release pipelines across multiple seasons.

• Best Orchestral Performance: BSO and Andris Nelsons — Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie

• Best Classical Instrumental: Yo-Yo Ma, Andris Nelsons and the BSO — Shostakovich: The Cello Concertos

The 2026 classical winners highlighted a familiar Grammys pattern: large, institution-backed projects anchored by internationally recognized artists and conductors.