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Global Music Awards is an international showcase for original music, unique voices and emerging artists. 2015 saw some highly anticipated new albums by our Gold Medal winning artists. Whittling down to ten albums was no easy task, but without further ado, we present Global Music Awards’ Top Ten Albums of 2015.

#10. Deus Ex Machina, Robert J. Bradshaw, composer/librettist, steampunk opera, USA. Opera companies around the country have been on a quest to breathe new life into opera and populate their theaters with fresh, younger audiences. Opera appears very dated to most young people who now thrive on fantasy and technology. This delightful album is a much needed antidote.

#9. New World, Trevor Dick Band, world/jazz/folk fusion, Canada. Award-winning electric violinist Trevor Dick and his long-time bandmates have entered new territory with TDB’s debut album, New World. This project takes you from Africa to Latin America to Europe and North America, erasing all borders. The music represents that sense of excitement, adventure, vision and sacrifice as our forefathers and mothers left the “Old World,” got on a ship and sailed into the unknown, in faith and discovered the New World. That’s what this album is all about, that longing for adventure, that sense of creativity, the drive to explore new territories with reckless abandon.

#8. Eleutherios, Nic Nassuet, gothic rock band, USA. Review Fix captured the essence of this album well, “Nassuet is able to put a definable face on the Gothic Rock genre for anyone who either had no idea what it was or had prior predispositions. Eerily charming, soft and silky, yet powerful and dark.” This singer/songwriter creates lyrics from his heart which resulted in a stunning album. This is serious music for serious thought.

#7. Trivolution, Gabriel Palatchi, Latin jazz & world music fusion, Argentina/Mexico. Trivolution is a vibrant and varied genre-bending eclectic and multi-cultural album that insures this talented young Argentinian pianist/composer a unique place in the ever-changing landscape of jazz. It is impossible to leave this album unsatisfied. Catchy and enjoyable from start to finish.

#6. Asia Beauty, Ron Korb, flutist, Canada. Some albums capture pure allure and grace; Asian Beauty is one of those album. The Washington post said Ron Korb is a tour de force for bamboo flute. We agree. Asian Beauty sweeps the listener into a world of imagination from the sultry cafes of Vietnam to the spectacular terraces of China. The nineteen compositions in this album uplift, rejuvenate and inspire.

#5. Consonnances, Tri Nguyen, composer & Vietnamese zither, Vietnam & France, USA. This album brings about the extraordinary fusion of Vietnamese ancestral music and Western classical music. The dialogue between zither and strings parallels the two cultures that have shaped the artist: classical pianist and zither player. Some of the thirteen melodies interweave in light and playful creations while others are invitations to a world of tranquility and meditation.

#4. BLUE13, Frank Stemper (composer) & Junghwa Lee (classical pianist), USA/South Korea. This album brings the joy of intense virtuosity as well as sensitive interpretation of highly complex, yet curiously accessible compositions. It has been described as introspective, deeply personal music, with a sharp emotional trigger. The album whispers in your ears because the composer and classical pianist go to the heart and soul of what artistic communication is all about.

#3. El Conde Negro, Pete Rodriguez, composer, vocalist, & trumpeter, Afro-Cuban jazz, USA/ Puerto Rico. This most enjoyable of albums has music that is instrumentally ferocious and texturally rich. Rodriguez creates compositions rich in musical depth, tone and beauty, as well as rhythm and melody. His trumpet playing is colorful and hot-blooded. We think you will like every song on this album. Rodriguez, an exceptional singer, brings passion and longing in every phrase.

#2. Traveler, Lawson Rollins, guitarist/composer, USA. Guitarist and composer Lawson Rollins takes listeners on a global musical journey on the multi-award winning album, Traveler. Bridging countries, cultures, and continents, the music features Lawson’s distinctive guitar-work backed by an eclectic, all-star ensemble. The expansive arc of the album reaches from the traditions of the Old World to the pulse of the modern metropolis with a boldly diverse, genre-defying mix of melody, rhythm, and improvisation. Acoustic Guitar Magazine wrote, “The sound is impeccable, the compositions dynamic, and the technique dazzling.”

#1. Requiem for The Living, Arthur Gottschalk, composer, USA. This album, with all original compositions, represents a full-scale masterwork more than ten years in the making. Grego Applegate Edwards’s Classical-Modern Music Review provides an accurate review of this work: “It is based on the Latin Mass for the Dead in content, but then branches out with textual commentary by (Duke) Ellington, George Elliot, Mohammad, Judaic sacred text, and other sources. The idea is that this is music for those who are still here, in terms of dealing with life in the face of death. How should we live? Romantic, contrapuntal, post-romantic, and otherwise modern elements join together with some elements of jazz a la George Gershwin and his era, and more. The essentially eclectic approach manages to convey to us an Arthur Gottschalk of committed passion, a sense of urgency, a communicator who creates a broad swath of convincing choral-orchestral largess and dramatic flourish.” At Global Music Awards we stand in awe of this album and its composer, who is also the recipient of a Charles Ives Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.