- 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Music: Henry Threadgill – In for a Penny, In for a Pound
- 2016 Grawemeyer Award Winner in Music: Hans Abrahamsen – let me tell you
Grammy Awards
- Best Orchestral Performance: Dmitri Shostakovich – Under Stalin's Shadow – Symphony No. 10; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Andris Nelsons, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Best Opera Recording: Maurice Ravel: L'enfant et les sortilèges / Shéhérazade; Isabel Leonard et al.; Saito Kinen Orchestra; SKF Matsumoto Chorus & SKF Matsumoto Children's Chorus; Seiji Ozawa, conductor (Decca)
- Best Choral Performance: Sergei Rachmaninoff – All-Night Vigil; Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Chorale; Charles Bruffy, conductor (Chandos)
- Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: Filament – eighth blackbird (Cédille Records)
- Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Henri Dutilleux – Violin Concerto (L'Arbre Des Songes), Symphony No. 2 ('Le Double'); Augustin Hadelich, violinist; Seattle Symphony; Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony Media)
- Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Joyce & Tony – Live From Wigmore Hall; Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano; Antonio Pappano, piano (Erato)
- Best Classical Compendium: Stephen Paulus – Three Places Of Enlightenment, Veil Of Tears, Grand Concerto; Nathan J. Laube, organist; Nashville Symphony; Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Naxos)
- Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Stephen Paulus – Prayers & Remembrances; True Concord Voices and Orchestra; Eric Holtan, conductor (Reference Recordings)
Juno Awards
Classical Albums of the Year:
Classical Composition of the Year: Dinuk Wijeratne – Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems (Centrediscs)
Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2016
- Baroque Instrumental: Biber – Rosary Sonatas; Rachel Podger, Jonathan Manson, David Miller, Marcin Swiatkiewicz (Channel Classics)
- Baroque Vocal: Monteverdi – Madrigali, Vol 1 – Cremona; Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew (Les Arts Florissants Editions)
- Chamber: Tippett – String Quartets; Heath Quartet (Wigmore Hall Live)
- Choral: Schoenberg – Gurrelieder; Barbara Haveman, Claudia Mahnke, Brandon Jovanovich, Gerhard Siegel, Thomas Bauer, Johannes Martin Kränzle; Netherlands Female Youth Choir; Cologne Cathedral Choir, Male Voices and Vocal Ensemble; Chorus of the Bach-Verein, Cologne; Kartäuserkantorei, Cologne; Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra; Markus Stenz (Hyperion)
- Concerto: Britten. Korngold – Violin Concertos; Vilde Frang, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, James Gaffigan (Warner Classics)
- Contemporary: Hans Abrahamsen – let me tell you; Barbara Hannigan, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons (Winter & Winter)
- Early Music: Western Wind; Taverner Choir & Players / Andrew Parrott (Avie)
- Instrumental: JS Bach – Goldberg Variations / Beethoven – Diabelli Variations / Frederic Rzewski – The People United Will Never Be Defeated!; Igor Levit (Sony Classical)
- Opera: Verdi – Aida; Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier, Erwin Schrott, Marco Spotti, Eleonora Buratto, Paolo Fanale; Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano (Warner Classics)
- Orchestral: Shostakovich – Symphony No 10 ('Under Stalin's Shadow); Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Recital: Mozart – The Weber Sisters; Sabine Devieilhe, Arnaud de Pasqual; Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon (Erato)
- Solo Vocal: Néère; Véronique Gens, Susan Manoff (Alpha)
- Recording of the Year: Bruckner – JS Bach – Goldberg Variations / Beethoven – Diabelli Variations / Frederic Rzewski – The People United Will Never Be Defeated!; Igor Levit (Sony Classical)
- Young Artist of the Year: Benjamin Appl
- Label of the Year: Warner Classics
- Artist of the Year: Daniil Trifonov
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Christa Ludwig
- Special Achievement Award: BBC Radio 3
British Composer Awards
- Amateur or Young Performers: Jonathan Dove – The Monster in the Maze
- Chamber Ensemble: Leo Chadburn – Freezywater
- Choral: Roderick Williams – Ave verum corpus re-imagined
- Community or Educational Project: John Webb – Into the Light
- Contemporary Jazz Composition: Joe Cutler – Karembeu's Guide to the Complete Defensive Midfielder
- Orchestral: Rebecca Saunders – Alba
- Small Chamber: Oliver Leith – A Day at the Spa
- Solo or Duo: Mark Bowden – Five Memos
- Sonic Art: Claudia Molitor – Sonorama
- Stage Works: Tansy Davies – Between Worlds
- Wind Band or Brass Band: Shri Sriram – Just a Vibration