Cleveland and Northeast Ohio musical talent abounds in 2025 Grammy nominations

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The 2025 Grammy nominations have been announced and there are many musicians and industry professionals with roots in Northeast Ohio dotting the lengthy list of nominees , including the Black Keys, Trent Reznor and a gaggle of talented folks in the classical categories associated with the Cleveland Institute of Music .

Industry observers will marvel at Beyonce's 11 nomination dominance (99 across her career) and surely will relish another opportunity to pit female superstars and their vocal fanbases against each other, as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Chapell Roan each have six nominations. But Northeast Ohio music fans can join together to root for the many area professionals who made the Grammy grade.

Akron's The Black Keys , last seen locally rocking out at a private event on behalf of crypto, received two nominations for songs from their latest well-received album ,"Ohio Players."

"Beautiful People (Stay High)" was nominated for Best Rock Song, pitting the duo against tunes by St. Vincent, Pearl Jam, Green Day and Idles. The bouncy tune was also nominated in the Best Rock Performance category alongside many of the same competitors - Green Day, IDLES, Pearl Jam and St. Vincent - plus a little English group known as The Beatles, who were nominated for their A.I.-assisted ghost track, "Now and Then."

Meanwhile former Cleveland resident and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his composing partner Atticus Ross received their fourth Grammy Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, this time for their work on the Zendaya romantic sports film, "Challengers." Reznor and Ross most recent win was for the score to the animated film, "Soul." Ross actually is competing against himself, as his work on "Shogun" with Nick Chuba and his brother Leopold Ross, is also in the category, along with scores from Laura Karman ("American Fiction"), Kris Bowers ("The Color Purple") and film score legend Hans Zimmer ("Dune: Part Two").

Northeast Ohio is once again heavily represented in the classical categories. Recording and festival producer and Shaker Heights resident Elaine Martone - who has already one five Grammys and one Latin Grammy - earned her 14th nomination as Producer of the Year, Classical for work she did with a variety of groups, including the Cleveland Orchestra. Martone will compete for the prize with Erica Brenner , another Grammy-winning locally-based producer and her sometime collaborator. Brenner was nominated for work she did with a variety of groups, included Cleveland-based Jeannette Sorrell & Apollo's Fire.

The Cleveland Institute of Music continues it's impressive run of nominations from its talented associates with several nominations in the classical categories. Alan Bise, CIM's head of Recording Arts & Services, produced two nominated recordings in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category, " Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price " by Karen Slack and featuring CIM alum Michelle Cann on piano, and "A Change is Gonna Come" featuring Nicholas Phan and Palaver Strings. The same category also includes former CIM guitar faculty member Colin Davin, one of a number of artists nominated for their work on "Newman: Bespoke Songs."

Violinist Daniel Ching, a CIM and Oberlin alum, is a member of the Miró Quartet, whose album " Home " is nominated in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble category

Apollo's Fire, the Grammy-winning, Cleveland based baroque orchestra led by conductor and harpsichordist Sorrell, is nominated along with the Apollo's Fire Singers in the Best Choral Performance category for their adaptation of the classic oratorio " Handel: Israel in Egypt, HWV 54 ."

Building on their already impressive representation, JoAnn Falletta, CIM's principal guest conductor and artistic advisor received two nominations for Best Classical Compendium for "Foss: Symphony No. 1; Renaissance Concerto; Three American Pieces; Ode," and for Best Orchestral Performance for "Kodály: Háry János Suite; Summer Evening and Symphony in C Major," both featuring Falletta conducting the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.