The Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance was first given out in 1959. Over the years the Recording Academy has made slight changes to the title of the award. From 1959 to 1964 except for 1961 the award was called Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist (with or without orchestra). It was later changed to Best Vocal Soloist Performance, Best Vocal Soloist Performance, Classical, in 1992 it was changed to Best Classical Vocal Soloist, From 1993 till date it has been called Best Classical Vocal Performance. Italian mezzo-soprano opera singer Cecilia Bartoli has been honored the most number of times taking home the award four times.

Winners: Grammys Best Classical Vocal Performance

Year
Winner/s
Performance
2009
Hila Plitmann (soloist), John Corigliano, Tim Handley & Tom Lazarus (engineers), John Corigliano & Tim Handley (producers)
Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan
2008
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (soloist), John Newton & Mark Donahue(engineers), Dirk Sobotka (producer)
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs
2007
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Rilke Songs
2006
Thomas Quasthoff (soloist), Jürgen Bulgrin & Rainer Maillard (engineers), Christopher Alder (producer)
Bach: Cantatas
2005
Susan Graham
Ives: Songs (The Things Our Fathers Loved; the Housatonic at Stockbridge, etc.)
2004
Thomas Quasthoff & Anne Sofie von Otter (soloists), Jürgen Bulgrin & Oliver Rogalla Von Heyden (engineers), Christopher Alder (producer)
Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra
2003
Renée Fleming (artist), Jonathan Stokes, Neil Hutchinson & Tom Lazarus (engineers), Erik Smith (producer)
Bel Canto (Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, etc.)
2002
Cecilia Bartoli (artist), Jonathan Stokes (engineer), Christopher Raeburn (producer)
Dreams & Fables - Gluck Italian Arias (Tremo Gra' Fubbi Miei; Die Questa Cetra In Seno, etc.)
2001
Cecilia Bartoli (artist), Jonathan Stokes (engineer), Christopher Raeburn (producer)
The Vivaldi Album (Dell'aura al sussurrar; Alma oppressa, etc.)
2000
Anne Sofie von Otter & Thomas Quasthoff (artists)
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
1999
Jeffrey Tate (conductor), Renée Fleming & the English Chamber Orchestra
The Beautiful Voice (Works of Charpentier, Gounod etc.)
1998
Cecilia Bartoli
An Italian Songbook (Works of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini)
1997
James Levine (conductor), Bryn Terfel & the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra - Opera Arias
Works of Mozart, Wagner, Borodin
1996
Christopher Hogwood (conductor), Sylvia McNair & the Academy of Ancient Music
The Echoing Air - The Music of Henry Purcell
1995
Cecilia Bartoli
The Impatient Lover - Italian Songs by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart
1994
Arleen Auger
The Art of Arleen Auger (Works of Larsen, Purcell, Schumann, Mozart)
1993
Kathleen Battle & Margo Garrett
Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall (Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Strauss, etc.)
1992
Dawn Upshaw
The Girl With Orange Lips (Falla, Ravel, etc.)
1991
Zubin Mehta (conductor), José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, & the Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale
Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in Concert
1990
David Zinman (conductor), Dawn Upshaw & the Orchestra of St. Luke's - Knoxville
Summer of 1915 (Music of Barber, Menotti, Harbison, Stravinsky)
1989
Emerson Buckley (conductor), Luciano Pavarotti & the Symphony Orchestra of Amelia Romangna
Luciano Pavarotti in Concert
1988
Kathleen Battle
Kathleen Battle: Salzburg Recital
1987
André Previn (conductor), Kathleen Battle & the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Kathleen Battle Sings Mozart
1986
Robert Shaw (conductor), John Aler & the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Berlioz: Requiem
1985
Pierre Boulez (conductor), Heather Harper, Jessye Norman & José van Dam, the BBC Symphony Orchestra & the Ensemble Intercontemporain
Ravel: Songs of Maurice Ravel
1984
James Levine (conductor), Marilyn Horne, Leontyne Price & the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Leontyne Price & Marilyn Horne in Concert at the Met
1983
Zubin Mehta (conductor), Leontyne Price & the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Verdi: Arias (Leontyne Price Sings Verdi)
1982
Richard Bonynge (conductor), Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland & the New York City Opera Orchestra
Live From Lincoln Center - Sutherland/Horne/Pavarotti
1981
Henry Lewis (conductor), Leontyne Price & the Philharmonia Orchestra
Prima Donna, Vol. 5 - Great Soprano Arias From Handel to Britten
1980
Luciano Pavarotti & the Bologna Orchestra
O Sole Mio - Favorite Neapolitan Songs
1979
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti - Hits From Lincoln Center
1978
Neville Marriner (conductor), Janet Baker & the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Bach: Arias
1977
Beverly Sills
Herbert: Music of Victor Herbert
1976
Janet Baker
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
1975
Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price Sings Richard Strauss
1974
Edward Downes (conductor), Leontyne Price & the New Philharmonia Orchestra
Puccini: Heroines
1973
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Brahms: Die Schone Magelone
1972
Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price Sings Robert Schumann
1971
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Schubert: Lieder
1970
Thomas Schippers (conductor), Leontyne Price & the New Philharmonia
Barber: Two Scenes From "Antony and Cleopatra"/Knoxville, Summer of 1915
1969
Carlo Felice Cillario (conductor), Montserrat Caballé & the RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra & Chorus
Rossini: Rarities
1968
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (conductor), Leontyne Price, & the RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra
Prima Donna, Volume 2
1967
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (conductor), Leontyne Price & the RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra
Prima Donna (Works of Barber, Purcell, etc.)
1966
Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), Leontyne Price & the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Strauss: Salome (Dance of the Seven Veils, Interlude, Final Scene)/The Egyptian Helen (Awakening Scene)
1965
Fritz Reiner (conductor), Leontyne Price & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete (Song Cycle)/Falla: El Amor Brujo
1964
Skitch Henderson (conductor), Leontyne Price & the RCA Orchestra
Great Scenes From Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
1963
Leonard Bernstein (conductor), Eileen Farrell & the New York Philharmonic
Götterdämmerung - Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene/Wesendonck Songs
1962
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (conductor), Joan Sutherland & the Royal Opera House Orchestra
The Art of the Prima Donna
1961
Leontyne Price
A Program of Song - Leontyne Price Recital
1960
Jussi Björling
Bjoerling in Opera
1959
Renata Tebaldi
Operatic Recital