Classical
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WME has signed pianist, composer and activist Chloe Flower for global representation. The signing comes just ahead of the release of Flower’s sophomore album, Chloe Hearts Christmas, out Nov. 1 on Sony Masterworks. The album follows Flower’s most recent single, “Christmas Tree,” which was released on Sept. 22. In 2021, Flower released her eponymous debut album, which […]
Apple Music is doubling down on classical music with the acquisition of Swedish label BIS Records.
Following the launch earlier this year of its standalone app Apple Music Classical (AMC), the tech giant makes its move for BIS, a classical specialist which has operated since 1973.
The acquisition ticks several boxes for both parties.
For BIS, the timing, and its new teammates, were right. “A few days ago BIS Records turned 50 years old and I am immensely proud of what our small team of people has accomplished during this half-century,” writes BIS founder Robert von Bahr in a blog post.
Its strong suit, “while paying our dues to the core repertoire,” he continues, “has been to nurture young classical artists and interesting living composers and to safeguard the musical treasure that we all represent long into the future. It is to that end that, after much careful consideration, and having just turned 80, I am excited to announce the rather momentous news that we have made the decision to become part of the Apple family.”
For Apple, the hardware colossus with a market cap that’s fast approaching $3 trillion, its latest purchase is a statement of intent. Classical music is hot right now, the newest member of its family comes bearing the goods, with a catalog of contemporary composers and early music. And Apple wants ownership.
Apple made its splash in the classical water with the March launch of AMC, stemming from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.
The new app, Apple boldly declared at the time, was the “ultimate classical experience” with the “largest classical music catalog,” boasting over 5 million tracks and works from new releases to recognized masterpieces.
The game is changing, fast. Last November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And, recently, Universal Music Group bought Hyperion Records, and announced its asset would finally enter into the streaming age.
Following the latest transaction, BIS will become part of Apple Music Classical and its artist services service Platoon. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. At the time of writing, BIS Recordings were available on Apple’s DSPs and eClassical.
Von Bahr and his staff won’t be going anywhere. “As proud as I am of this milestone,” he writes, “I am even more proud of the fact that the entire personnel of BIS, including me, have been retained. We all look forward to a future, filled with new music and artists in golden sound from this increased force in classical music.”
Read more here.
Hyperion Records has entered the streaming age.
From today (July 28), the venerated British classical label begins the rollout of its catalog on streaming platforms, starting with a batch of 200 titles.
The initial run includes “key recordings” from Hyperion’s roster, including Arcangelo, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Sir Stephen Hough, Alina Ibragimova, Steven Isserlis, Steven Osborne and Polyphony.
All 2,000-plus LPs from the Hyperion vault will be available to stream by spring 2024, reads a statement. Collections should follow every two weeks from Sept. 15, 2023, until the complete set is ingested and available across the myriad platforms.
The long-overdue streaming push follows Universal Music Group (UMG) acquisition of the label, in a deal announced in March which sees Hyperion join Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon in UMG’s classical portfolio.
Also from today, three new Hyperion releases are made available for streaming, including the latest Dvořák album from the Takács Quartet; and a collection of choral anthems from Stephen Layton and Trinity College Choir Cambridge.
Going forward, all new Hyperion titles will be simultaneously available for streaming, physical purchase and download, explains the statement from UMG.
The 43-year-old label — which is home to artists like Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt and Stephen Osborne, and some works which date back to the 12th century — was founded in South London by Ted Perry, a classical enthusiast who moonlighted as a mini-cab driver to fund its early recordings.
“These first 200 albums tell our story, and we look forward to presenting all our work from the past four decades to a new global streaming audience artist-by-artist, series-by-series,” comments Simon Perry, managing director of Hyperion and son of the label’s founder. “Each had their challenges and now they come together to tell a narrative, hopefully a powerful one, of what can happen when you make space for musicians to thrive: it’s why Hyperion has worked.”
The second release phase will “showcase some of Hyperion’s great piano and keyboard stars” including pianists Danny Driver, Stephen Hough, Pavel Kolesnikov, Steven Osborne, and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.
Subsequent “release chapters” will feature choral music, string quartets, Baroque, early music and solo vocal, and more.
The acquisition came as the classical music world emerged as a hive of activity. Last November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And earlier this year, Apple Music launched its own standalone streaming app, Apple Music Classical, which stems from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.
“The arrival of Hyperion on the world’s streaming platforms,” comments Dickon Stainer, UMG’s president of global classics & jazz, “offers a special moment of discovery for this precious and pioneering label.”
John Williams surprised the audience at Wednesday night’s (June 14) Hollywood premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. According to Deadline, the five-time Oscar-winning 91-year-old composer was joined by a full orchestra for a performance of several movements from the movie, including the main title theme and “Helena’s Theme,” which he wrote for […]
A legal cacophony is brewing in the City of Brotherly Love.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the Philly Pops accused the Philadelphia Orchestra of violating federal antitrust laws by abusing its control over local concert venues and ticketing services to try to crush its smaller rival.
“Defendants have engaged … in unlawful, anticompetitive and predatory conduct with respect to the Philly POPS for the purpose and with the intent to force the Philly POPS out of business so that Philadelphia Orchestra could eliminate the Philly Pops as a competitor in and monopolize the market for live symphonic popular concert music concerts in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area,” lawyers for the Pops wrote.
Philly Pops claims that it has long peacefully co-existed with the Orchestra, one of America’s so-called Big Five symphony orchestras. The Pops has played symphonic versions of Broadway show tunes, movie scores and popular music, while the Orchestra has stuck to classical symphonic – and the two have been “marketed to different potential patrons” and “attended by audiences with little duplication.”
But starting last year, Philly Pops says the Orchestra has been jumping into the pops space and trying to put its smaller rival out of business. The lawsuit claims that the Orchestra has done so mostly by abusing its merger with the Kimmel Center, the primary orchestra venue in the city and the ticketing service Ticket Philadelphia.
According to the lawsuit, the Orchestra “substantially and unreasonably” increased fees for the Pops to perform at the Kimmel Center and slowed down the sale of tickets to previously scheduled shows. It then hired a PR firm to “create media messaging” that the Pops would be absorbed by the Orchestra after the 2023 season.
When the Pops said it would not go along with such a plan, the Orchestra “summarily evicted the POPS from the Kimmel Center forcing the POPS to cancel and postpone its concerts [there] and scramble for different but substantially less viable indoor venues.”
In addition to naming the Philadelphia Orchestra-Kimmel Center, Inc. as a defendant, the lawsuit also named Matias Tarnopolsky, the company’s president and CEO.
In a statement to Billboard, a spokesperson for the Orchestra said: “We have just received the lawsuit, which was brought to our attention by the media. As the complaint has yet to be formally served, we will reserve comment until then and once it has been reviewed with counsel.”
Read the entire lawsuit against the Philadelphia Orchestra here:
Universal Music Group has acquired the British indie classical label Hyperion Records, the company announced Wednesday (March 15).
The 43-year-old label — which is home to artists like Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt and Stephen Osborne and represents a catalog of 2,5000 recordings, some of which date back to the 12th century — will operate as a standalone label within Universal Music U.K. alongside Decca Classics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hyperion will now join Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon in UMG’s classical portfolio, while Simon Perry — who has overseen the label for more than 20 years, after taking over from his father, Hyperion founder Ted Perry — will remain as managing director.
“I’m thrilled to bring Hyperion to Universal Music Group, a company that shares Hyperion’s commitment to bringing the most distinctive and brilliant musicians to as wide a public as possible,” Perry said in a statement. “By being part of UMG, while keeping our artists and staff together, we can continue to build on my father’s legacy and that of everyone who’s been part of the Hyperion family over the past 43 years. My debt to all of them is huge and I look forward to leading this incredible label into an exciting new chapter.”
Hyperion is next set to release Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica and Symphony No.9 with BBC Symphony Orchestra, a series it says is dedicated to the Masses and Magnificats of Cristóbal de Morales, as well as recordings from the London Haydn Quartet and Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, among others. In a statement, UMG president/CEO of global classics and jazz Dickon Stainer called Hyperion “a jewel of a label,” adding that “we are committed to continuing the magnificent work done by the Perry family and to preserving and building on the special place Hyperion occupies in the hearts of artists and music fans alike.”
The acquisition comes amid a veritable wave of news spilling from the world of classical music lately. In November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And earlier this month, Apple Music announced its own standalone streaming app, Apple Music Classical, which will roll out later this month and stems from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.
“We are enormously proud that Hyperion has joined Universal’s family of classical labels to sit alongside Decca Classics in London,” Decca Label Group co-presidents Tom Lewis and Laura Monks said in a statement. “Simon and his father have created a very important recorded classical catalogue that serves a dedicated global audience. And the label continues to work with artists who are the best of the best. We are determined to celebrate the label’s legacy and continue its extraordinary story.”
Apple Music is ready for its long-awaited dive into classical music, with a standalone app. Announced Thursday (March 9), Apple Music Classical is pitched as the “ultimate classical experience,” and is said to be years in the making.
The app will invite classical fans to stream hundreds of curated playlists and thousands of exclusive albums, plus view exclusive artworks and digital portraits, browse composer biographies, editorial notes and more. AMC launches on March 28 but is available to “pre-order” now in the App Store.
Apple Music subscribers will be able download and use Apple Music Classical at no additional cost to their plan. While it’ll be a standalone app, only Apple Music subscribers will have access to it.
At launch, the service will boast the world’s “largest classical music catalog” with over 5 million tracks and works from new releases to recognized masterpieces, according to a statement.
The app’s search engine can locate recordings by composer, work, conductor, and even catalog number, and audiophiles will be rewarded with “thousands” of recordings rendered in immersive spatial audio.
Apple’s full-on plunge into classical follows the tech giant’s acquisition of Primephonic, the Netherlands-based classical music streaming service, in a deal announced back in Aug. 30, 2021, a precursor to the launch of a dedicated experience for classical music fans, which was tentatively planned for 2022.
“We love and have a deep respect for classical music, and Primephonic has become a fan favorite for classical enthusiasts,” Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, said at the time. “Together, we’re bringing great new classical features to Apple Music, and in the near future, we’ll deliver a dedicated classical experience that will truly be the best in the world.”
That dedicated classical experience is set to go live later this month everywhere where Apple Music is offered, with the exception of China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan; those regions will follow at an unspecified date, reads a corporate statement. Also coming soon is Apple Music Classical for Android.
The app will be available for all iPhone models running iOS 15.4 or later.
Alan Gilbert agreed Friday (Feb. 17) to a five-year contract extension as chief conductor of the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, Germany, a deal that runs through the 2028-29 season.
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The New Yorker, who turns 56 on Feb. 23, became the orchestra’s chief conductor the 2019-20 season.
Gilbert also is music director of the Royal Swedish Opera, conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Gilbert was music director of the New York Philharmonic from 2009-10 through 2016-17. He is a son of former New York Philharmonic violinists Yoko Takebe and Michael Gilbert.
Longtime Los Angeles Philharmonic music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel will move to the New York Philharmonic in the same role starting in 2026, the NY Phil announced Tuesday (Feb. 7).
Dudamel, who has served as music and artistic director at the LA Phil since 2009 and also currently serves as music director of the Opéra National de Paris and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, will begin a five-year term at the NY Phil starting with the orchestra’s 2026-27 season. He will additionally serve as music director designate during the 2025-26 season.
“Today, above all, I am grateful. I am grateful to the musicians and leadership of the New York Philharmonic as we embark upon this new and beautiful journey together. As the great poet Federico García Lorca said: ‘Every step we take on earth brings us to a new world,’” said Dudamel, adding, “I gaze with joy and excitement at the world that lies before me in New York City.”
Dudamel has guest-conducted 26 concerts at the NY Phil since his debut there in November 2007. He’s slated to return this spring to conduct the orchestra in three performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 from May 19-21, which will mark his first time conducting in the reimagined David Geffen Hall’s Wu Tsai Theater.
“This is a dream come true for our musicians, our audience, and certainly for me,” said NY Phil’s Linda and Mitch Hart president/CEO Deborah Borda in a statement. “The coming together of a great orchestra, a visionary Music and Artistic Director, and our transformed hall promises the richest of futures.”
NY Phil executive director Gary Ginstlin, who will succeed Borda as president/CEO, added, “With Gustavo Dudamel, the Philharmonic is poised for what I believe will be one of the most exciting chapters in its storied history.”
NY Phil principal trumpet Christopher Martin added that the orchestra feels “an extraordinary connection” with Dudamel. “This moment aligns with the unparalleled artistic tradition of this nation’s oldest orchestra,” he continued. “We look forward to sharing our deepening musical relationship with audiences both in our revitalized David Geffen Hall and on tour around the world.”