Barry McCann Forms New
Partnership With
Simon Foster At Avie Records
1 June 2008, London,
England – A significant development at
Avie Records sees Barry McCann,
former Managing Director of EMI Classics
UK, join forces with Avie’s founder Simon
Foster, becoming co-Director of the
successful and innovative UK-based independent
classical label. McCann brings decades
of record company experience to the Avie
table. He will oversee the label’s marketing,
press, promotion, and international sales,
forging a high-powered partnership with
Foster, whose A & R credentials are
justly celebrated. Avie Records was founded
in 2002 by Foster and Melanne Mueller
who last year was appointed Senior Vice
President of Universal Music Classical
in New York.
At the heart of Avie’s
unique business model is artist ownership,
whereby artists retain and control the
copyright in their recordings. Working
in partnership with musicians, the label
constantly strives for the highest quality
across every aspect – performances, production
values and presentation. In six years,
Avie’s catalogue has grown to over 150
recordings with repertoire ranging from
the 9th century to the present
day, encompassing solo, chamber, opera
and vocal, orchestral and the occasional
offbeat. The label, which is distributed
in over 35 countries, has garnered world-wide
critical acclaim, dozens of international
awards, and an enthusiastic consumer following.
Simon Foster says: "I
am most fortunate that Barry has agreed
to throw in his lot with me at Avie. He’s
a truly exceptional veteran of the UK
music business. His vast repertoire knowledge
and broad view of the market have combined
to create a track record that is second
to none."
Foster has been a driving
force in the classical world for over
30 years. In both A & R and marketing
roles, his major label positions have
included General Manager at EMI Classics
UK, Managing Director of Virgin Classics
which he founded under Richard Branson,
and Director of BMG Classics UK where
he was executive producer of Lesley Garrett’s
A Soprano Inspired. He is best
known for signing Nigel Kennedy to EMI
and the production of Elgar’s Violin
Concerto and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons,
which was subsequently marketed by Barry
McCann and became one of the biggest-selling
classical albums of all time.
Barry McCann says: "I
am delighted to be working with Simon
once more. From the golden days at Classics
for Pleasure where we collaborated on
many wonderful recordings with Tod Handley
and the LPO through to the phenomenal
successes with Nigel Kennedy at EMI, we
enjoyed the magical mix of art, business
and fun".
Barry McCann has worked
in the music business for over 30 years.
Starting as a recording engineer with
Classics for Pleasure in 1975, he was
shortly appointed the label’s record producer.
Barry worked with many artists, including
Norman Del Mar and Vernon Handley in a
series of Elgar recordings, before becoming
Marketing Director in EMI’s Strategic
Marketing Division with responsibility
for the "Now That’s What I Call Music"
series which celebrates it’s 25th
anniversary this year. Thereafter he was
appointed Managing Director of EMI Classics
UK and more recently served as Co-Chairman
of the Classical Brit Awards between 2005
and 2007.
Highlights of Avie Records’
2008 release schedule include:
- Former Deep Purple keyboard player
Jon Lord’s Durham Concerto,
played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra with violinist and Classical
BRIT winner Ruth Palmer, cellist
Matthew Barley (Academy Director
of BBC TV’s "Classical Star"),
Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian
pipes, and Lord playing Hammond organ
- Beethoven’s complete works for cello
and piano by Antonio Meneses
and Menahem Pressler, two-thirds
of the celebrated Beaux Arts Trio
- Pianist Charles Owen performing
Faure’s Complete Nocturnes, the latest
in Avie’s ongoing and influential young
artists series
- Violinist and director Thomas Zehetmair
continuing the Northern Sinfonia’s
acclaimed series from the spectacular
Sage Gateshead with a recording
pairing Sibelius and Stravinsky
- And an archival recording from Boston,
Massachusetts-based Emmanuel Music
of Handel and Bach by the late mezzo-soprano
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, whose
recording of Handel Arias with the Orchestra
of the Age of Enlightenment and
Harry Bicket is the best-selling
recording in Avie’s catalogue.
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