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A visual history · Grammys

The winners who defined Chamber Music.

12 ceremonies, 2000–2011. 10 different winners. The longest run belongs to Emerson String Quartet, with 2 straight wins.

Who won most recently?
Parker Quartet in 2011 for Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2.
Who has won the most?
Emerson String Quartet, 3 wins (2001, 2006, 2007).
  1. Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2Parker Quartet
  2. Intimate LettersEmerson Quartet
  3. Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5Pacifica Quartet
  4. Strange Imaginary AnimalsEighth Blackbird
  5. Intimate VoicesEmerson String Quartet
  6. Mendelssohn: The Complete String QuartetsEmerson String Quartet
Years explored
2000–2011
Different winners
10
Category leader
Emerson String Quartet · 3
About this record

It was awarded for the last time in 2011.

Its successor had already run alongside it since 1997; the Academy folded the two together for 2012, saying the only real distinction had been the number of players.

From 2012 the Grammys awarded Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance instead.

2000–2011

12 ceremonies

20002011

01 / The reigns

Emerson String Quartet set the longest run.

The timeline turns the 2000–2011 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited label.

  1. 01
    Emerson String Quartet3 wins
Each band is one winner’s reign. Wider means a longer run. Colored by label; hover for details.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis'00
Emerson String Quartet'01
Angeles String Quartet'02
Takács Quartet'03
Kronos Quartet, Dawn Upshaw'04
Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev'05
Emerson String Quartet'06–'07×2
Eighth Blackbird'08
Pacifica Quartet'09
Emerson Quartet'10
Parker Quartet'11

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2011. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

YearWinnerLabel
2011Parker Quartet (Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2)
beat 4 others
  • Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov (Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Violin & Piano)
  • Marc Regnier (Gnattali: Solo & Chamber Works for Guitar)
  • Eliesha Nelson, John McLaughlin Williams (Porter: Complete Viola Works)
  • Fred Sherry String Quartet (Schoenberg: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4)
Unrecorded
2010Emerson Quartet (Intimate Letters)
beat 4 others
  • Enso Quartet (Ginastera: String Quartets (Complete))
  • Guarneri Quartet (The Hungarian Album)
  • Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer (Schumann/Bartók: The Berlin Recital)
  • Yolanda Kondonassis (Takemitsu: And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind)
Unrecorded
2009Pacifica Quartet (Elliott Carter: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5)
beat 4 others
  • Stephen Hough, Takács Quartet (Brahms: String Quartet Op. 51, No. 2; Piano Quintet, Op. 34)
  • Trio Mediaeval (Folk Songs)
  • ARC Ensemble (Right Through the Bone - Julius Röntgen Chamber Music)
  • Jennifer Koh, Reiko Uchida (String Poetic)
Unrecorded
2008Eighth Blackbird (Strange Imaginary Animals)
beat 4 others
  • Artists of the Royal Conservatory Ensemble (On the Threshold of Hope)
  • Oleg Maisenberg, Sabine Meyer (Saint-Saëns/Poulenc/Devienne/Milhaud)
  • Ying Quartet (Tchaikovsky: Three String Quartets, Souvenir de Florence)
  • Joseph Banowetz, Alton Chung Ming Chan (30 Songs of the Russian People)
Unrecorded
2007Emerson String Quartet (Intimate Voices)repeat
beat 4 others
  • Chicago Chamber Musicians (Chamber works for Winds and String by Mozart)
  • Andrew Russo (Corigliano: Violin Sonata, Étude Fantasy)
  • Martha Argerich and Friends (Martha Argerich and Friends: Live from the Lugano Festival 2005)
  • Beaux Arts Trio (Shostakovich: Piano Trios 1 & 2, Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok)
Unrecorded
2006Emerson String Quartet (Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets)
beat 4 others
  • Borealis Wind Quintet (A La Carte - Short Works for Winds)
  • Vermeer Quartet (Bartók: The Six String Quartets)
  • Borodin Quartet (Borodin Quartet 60th Anniversary)
  • Martha Argerich (Martha Argerich and Friends: Live from the Lugano Festival)
Unrecorded
2005Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev (Prokofiev (Arr. Pletnev): Cinderella - Suite for Two Pianos; Ravel: Ma Mère L'Oye)
beat 4 others
  • Leila Josefowicz, John Novacek (John Adams: Road Movies)
  • Leif Ove Andsnes, Christian Tetzlaff (Bartók: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2, etc.)
  • Maggini Quartet (Bridge: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3)
  • Hilliard Ensemble (Machaut: Motets)
Unrecorded
2004Kronos Quartet, Dawn Upshaw (Berg: Lyric Suite)
beat 4 others
  • Michael Cox (Bliss: String Quartet No. 1; Conversations for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Viola and Cello, etc.)
  • Speculum Musicae (Carter: Oboe Quartet)
  • Boris Berman, Vermeer Quartet (Shostakovich/Schnittke: Piano Quintets)
  • Kronos Quartet (Vasks: String Quartet, No. 4)
Unrecorded
2003Takács Quartet (Beethoven: String Quartets)
beat 4 others
  • Mark Dresser (Golijov: Yiddishbbuk)
  • Richard Egarr, Andrew Manze (Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas)
  • Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky (Live In Japan (Chopin, Franck, Debussy))
  • Silke Avenhaus (Silvestrov: Leggiero, Pesante)
Unrecorded
2002Angeles String Quartet (Haydn: The Complete String Quartets)
beat 4 others
  • Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain (Boulez: Sur Incises; Messagequisse; Anthemes 2)
  • Myung-Whun Chung (Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time)
  • Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Villa-Lobos: String Quartets, Vol. 6, Nos. 4, 9, 11)
  • Emperor Quartet (Walton: The String Quartets)
Unrecorded
2001Emerson String Quartet (Shostakovich: The String Quartets)
beat 4 others
  • Itzhak Perlman, Martha Argerich (Beethoven/Franck: Violin Sonatas)
  • Members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Debussy: The Complete Chamber Music)
  • Lynn Harrell, Nigel Kennedy (Duos for Violin & Cello)
  • Quatuor Mosaïques (Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76 (Nos. 1-6))
Unrecorded
2000Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis (Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas)
beat 4 others
  • Eroica Trio (Dvořák: Piano Trio "Dumky", Op. 90; Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2; Rachmaninoff: Vocalise)
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players, Gilbert Kalish (Hindemith: Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano; Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57)
  • Joseph Carver, Andreas Haefliger, Takács Quartet (Shubert: The "Trout" Quintet; Wolf: Italian Serenade; Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik)
  • Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky (Tchaikovsky/Shostakovich: Piano Trios)
Unrecorded