Keith Urban suffers Grammy snub

Not even the star power of Keith Urban could stem the snubs for Australian artists at the Grammy Awards.

Urban, nominated with fellow country heavyweights Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift for Highway Don't Care in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance, lost to The Civil Wars.

Perth psychedelic rock group Tame Impala also fell short in the Best Alternative Music Album, Melbourne's Hiatus Kaiyote missed out on the Best R&B Performance Grammy, The Greencards were snubbed for Best Folk Album and Baz Luhrmann received a cold shoulder for his The Great Gatsby soundtrack.

The news was better for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, which had a significant role in four Grammy Award wins at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.

The orchestra worked on the classical album Winter Morning Walks, by US composer Maria Schneider and singer Dawn Upshaw, which dominated the Grammy classical categories.

The album won Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Best Classical Vocal Solo, Best Engineered Classical Album and helped David Frost win Classical Producer of the Year.

The awards were announced at the Grammy pre-telecast ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

The main Grammy ceremony will be held next door at the 20,000 seat Staples Centre from midday AEDT on Monday.

New Zealand phenomenon Lorde is expected to collect four major awards - Record of the Year; Song of the Year; Best Pop Solo Performance; and Best Pop Vocal Album.