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Joel Gordon, co-founder, producer and sound engineer:
Joel Gordon has engineered and produced several hundred classical,
contemporary and world music CDs, plus countless “live” and field
recordings, recorded in the USA, Europe and Asia. His work can he
heard on various recording labels throughout the USA and Europe. For
over twenty years he has served as producer for WGBH Radio in
Boston, MA, having overseen over one thousand live performance,
concert and studio recordings as well as radio music special
programs. His ethnographic field recordings can be heard on
Smithsonian Folkways Records. His exemplary professional standards
distinguish every Musica Omnia release and provide the label with
its distinctive audiophile quality sound. Joel Gordon is also the
founder of the internationally syndicated American new music
resource, Art of the States.
 Martin C. Basart,
Director
of Global Marketing & Sales:
Martin Basart has been involved in sales and marketing of Classical
recordings for thirty five years. Originally from the Netherlands he
relocated to the USA in 1976 to train in record production under George H.
de Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, founder of the world-famous VOX
classical recording catalogue. In this role he created over one hundred classical albums, later becoming a regional VOX sales representative. In January of 1979 he joined Pickwick Records’ label
division as National Sales Manager, after which he became Vice President
Sales and Marketing for Intersound, Essex Entertainment and later
BMG/Empire Musicwerks. For Musica Omnia he is
coordinator of international sales and marketing.
Jessica L Trainor,
Global Marketing & Sales Intern:
An
amateur performer and Classical aficionado, Jessica Trainor joins
Musica Omnia for the Summer of 2010 to get her feet wet in the world
of marketing for the Classical music scene. She is a rising Junior
at Boston College’s College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Music
and Psychology. Her passion for marketing music spawned from her
desire to help and inspire others through music, coupled with her
love of the inner workings of the human mind and human interactions.
She is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but has seen
places as far as Hong Kong and Mainland China, to Rome, where she
performed at various masses as a member of Boston College’s
University Chorale.
Our Company:
It takes a phenomenal combination of talent, experience
and expertise to create a significant new label in the
current highly competitive field of classical music
recording. It also takes taste, a capacity for
self-criticism and a constant awareness of the fluidity
of many different trends in musical performance.
Moreover, it requires knowledge combined with innovation to develop
an appropriate musical, technological and marketing
philosophy, not to mention a willingness to adapt to
rapidly changing circumstances of both technology and
artistic trends.
Musica Omnia showcases the finest performances by
today’s leading artists by offering the best
presentation that modern technology can provide. Central
to our philosophy is a constant awareness of the
resources and sound world of every historical period, so
that the music of each composer is represented as
faithfully as possible. Our goal is to provide our
listeners with a vital, contemporary musical experience,
based on the best historical research and the highest
aesthetic standards. We are conscious of both preserving
the legacy of the past while advancing and constantly
renewing our vision of music as art.
Our roster of performing artists, whom we proudly
acknowledge as the most important members of the Musica
Omnia family, includes both the most experienced and
internationally famous musicians, as well as highly
gifted members of the younger generation of performers
who will carry our ideals through the 21st century. Our
production staff includes some of the most experienced
and respected members of the audio community. Our
releases are enhanced by supporting material in the form
of booklet notes written by the world’s leading scholars
and musicians. Each release is designed to be as
pleasing visually as it is distinguished musically.
Musica Omnia is a label conceived by musicians for
musicians. Many of our board members and staff are also
musicians. Our company
takes seriously its commitment to bridge the gap between
the professional musician, the experienced listener and
that potentially limitless international community of
new classical music aficionados. A glance at our
catalogue will tell the story, as will a visit to our
“artists” page. Musica Omnia is harvesting a wealth of
creative talent to carry forward a revolution in the
presentation of classical music for every generation of
music lover, present and future.
Musica Omnia is a label devoted to preserving and disseminating
performances of great music by the world’s leading musicians, with
special emphasis on period performance. Those who recall the SEON
label from the 1970s, where the listener could rely on the choice
of artist, high aesthetic and historical standards and predictably
excellent, state of the art sound, will find similar ideals here.
Musica Omnia has been geared towards this end since its founding in
2000 by Peter Watchorn (artistic direction and artist liaison),
Joel
Gordon (recording and sound production/engineering) and David Fox
(business and marketing). Based in the USA, Musica Omnia sets
the same standards as the best, most prestigious audiophile labels
in Europe and Japan.
In 2002, Musica Omnia expanded its identity and became a registered
not-for-profit-corporation, in order to be able to maximize its
flexibility both as a classical music CD company and as an
educational resource, capable of raising capital for special
projects. The years from 2002 to 2006 were also spent in
consolidating the catalogue and building up Musica Omnia’s releases
to the present number of around twenty, with six new releases
planned in each coming year. In 2006 Musica Omnia is once again
presenting itself for worldwide distribution and sales, under the
leadership of Martin Basart, who has been with Musica Omnia from the
very beginning, and who, prior to joining Musica Omnia has
had
many years of experience in the area of marketing and sales in the
record industry. Distributors for our physical CDs, both in the US
and in foreign countries, are being appointed at the present time.
Musica
Omnia is governed by a corporate board which assists
with fund-raising for special projects and helps oversee
and maintain the high musical and artistic standards
that the label has achieved in its first decade of
operation. This unique structure enables Musica Omnia
to
compete in the market place, while pursuing funding for
special projects through grants and private donor
support.
In addition, through its recently-formed association with the online
digital distributor, IODA, Musica Omnia is entering the cutting edge
field of worldwide on-line distribution of its catalogue.
Musica Omnia offers:
• the finest performances of great music by leading
musicians
As with Telefunken and SEON in the 1960s, Musica Omnia
features legendary artists such as Jaap Schröder and Max
van Egmond, exciting instrumental groups like the
Atlantis Ensemble, the Adaskin String Trio,
Magnificat,
Publick Musick and the Boston Bach Ensemble, the
Lydian
String Quartet and many other of today’s finest
instrumentalists and vocalists.
• the finest recorded sound overseen by a consistent
production/engineering team
With Joel Gordon, one of America’s most respected and
experienced engineer/producers and Peter Watchorn as
artistic coordinator, Musica Omnia has displayed over
its nearly twenty releases a high and consistent
standard of excellence that competes with the finest
labels in the world. Musica Omnia’s reputation as
a leader in the field has been confirmed internationally
by numerous reviews and awards from publications such as
The New York Times, Gramophone, International Record
Review, BBC World Music Magazine and American
Record Guide.
• unique and beautiful format with highest production
standards
Musica Omnia’s products all have a distinctive and
distinguished look, well organized, highly informative
booklets and fine graphics. Musica Omnia's
concern with presenting the finest music performed by
the greatest artists with state-of-the-art sound is
fully matched by similar attention paid to all the
visual aspects of CD production.
• supporting documentation by the world’s leading
scholars and writers
Musica Omnia maintains close contact with the leading
musicologists, university professors and writers and
scholars such as Susan Youens, Larry Todd, Howard
Schott, John Daverio, Rufus Hallmark, Robert Mealy and Bradley Lehman,
whose contributions have regularly enhanced Musica Omnia releases. We
always choose leading writers in any particular field to
produce our extensive and detailed booklet notes. Many
of these scholars have literally “written the book” in
their respective fields.
• extensive mailing list
Musica Omnia is constantly updating its
extensive mailing list of enthusiastic repeat customers.
Currently we directly email several thousand music
lovers, keeping them informed of upcoming releases and
other Musica Omnia news. This data base is expanding all the
time, and we are deeply committed to spreading the word
about “historically informed” performance far and wide.
• coherent catalogue planning and development
The catalogue is intelligently planned by artist,
historical period and composer. Our releases are
designed to follow
logically from one another. This makes the label
desirable for everyone from the casual listener to the
highly selective connoisseur, professional musician or
school, college or university music librarian who is
looking specifically for particular works, groups or
performers.
We plan our new releases to proceed sequentially from our existing
catalogue. This results in unrivalled continuity of
genre, composer and artist. Because of these high
standards, many of our artists choose to record
exclusively with us.
• highly competitive pricing structure
Our basic pricing structure is designed to make the
highest quality product readily and affordably
available, while maintaining the highest artistic,
technical and aesthetic standards. Our recordings are
equal to the best in the world and are specially priced
to be universally affordable.
• ready availability
Musica Omnia is set to work with various partners,
to ensure worldwide availability of its products, both
as physical CDs and increasingly important online digital formats. In addition, our newly-designed website is created specifically to facilitate
direct purchase of all our releases. We stock our entire
catalogue at all times, and never delete any release.
Our artists include:
Etienne Abelin (violin)
Adaskin String Trio
Elizabeth Anker (alto)
Atlantis Ensemble
Boston Bach Ensemble
Peter Bucknell (viola)
Karen Clark (alto)
Saskia Coolen (recorder)
Penelope Crawford (fortepiano & harpsichord)
Martin
Davids (violin)
Max van Egmond (baritone)
Ensemble Plus Ultra
Mahan
Esfahani (organ and harpsichord)
Andrea Folan (soprano)
Thomas Folan (conductor)
Daniel Foster (viola)
Anne Harley (soprano)
Jennifer Lane (alto)
Lydian String Quartet
Magnificat
Emlyn Ngai (violin)
Michael
Noone (conductor)
Sally Pinkas (piano)
Publick Musick
Jaap Schröder (violin)
Kenneth Slowik (fortepiano and cello)
Warren Stewart (conductor)
Enid Sutherland (cello & viola da gamba)
David Tayler (lute & theorbo)
Margriet Tindemans (viola da gamba)
Anne Trout (double bass)
Hanneke van Proosdij (organ)
Julian Wachner (conductor)
Peter Watchorn (harpsichord & organ)
Catherine Webster (soprano)
David
Yearsley (organ)
We invite you to investigate what is arguably one of the
most exciting and innovative classical labels in the
world today.
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David Fox, co-founder and
Business Advisor:
