Though the award’s name has changed, including Best New Age Recording and Best New Age Performance, the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album has been honoring the artistic achievements of the genre for thirty years.
New Age as a genre is notoriously hard to define. It includes influence from classical, jazz, ambient and folk from around the world through all types of instrumentation - electronic, acoustic and often experimental.
The term lives on and the peer-presented award counts a list of luminaries in the field within its nominees and winners. Swiss harpist and composer Andreas Vollenweider took home the inaugural award in 1987 for Down to the Moon. As both a solo artist and bandleader, Paul Winter at six has the most wins. Including one win, Kitarō has the most nominations at fifteen. In 2017 Peter Kater received his twelfth nomination for his Hearts of Space Records duet with cellist Tina Guo - Inner Passion.
Other nominees for this year's award were: Enya - Dark Sky Island, Vangelis - Rosetta, John Burke - Orogen, and White Sun - White Sun II.
