Delos has often been called the Great American Label, and not only because of Amelia Haygood’s mission to give American artists an international platform. In the mid-1980s, Amelia began her pioneering efforts on behalf of American composers, first with Boston’s Musica Viva, and soon followed by the celebrated series with Gerard Schwarz, the Seattle Symphony and the New York Chamber Symphony. These recordings received Grammy nominations for the artists, the engineer, and the label, and helped to reawaken American interest in its own classical music.
This important series continued with James DePreist and the Oregon Symphony, and with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony, featuring a number of recordings with American composers. The OSO and DSO series were the first to be recorded with John Eargle’s much-praised “Virtual Reality Recording” surround sound. One of the recordings on the distinguished Delos series with Zdenek Macal and the New Jersey Symphony won John the Grammy for sound engineering.
Delos’ highly-praised choral series ranges from Roger Wagner’s last recording to Dennis Keene’s Billboard charting Voices of Ascension. Our outstanding guitar series began with Pater Familias Celedonio Romero, and continues with the remarkable 8-string guitarist Paul Galbraith, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Angel Romero, Italian guitarist Emanuele Segre, and most recently, Greek guitarist Smaro Gregoriadou. Among many other well-known names appearing on Delos are cellists Janos Starker and Zuill Bailey, flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal, Eugenia Zukerman and Joshua Smith, clarinetist David Shifrin, the Shanghai Quartet, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, thereminist Clara Rockmore, pianists Nadia Reisenberg and John Browning, singers Arleen Auger, Renee Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
In 1998, American pianist/conductor Constantine Orbelian came into our lives; and again, one pioneer recognized another. The first American ever to become music director of a Russian ensemble, Constantine brought us together with like-minded artists who became part of our extended family; among them the famed Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia of Russia, Spiritual Revival Choir of Russia, Olga Guryakova, Marina Domashenko, Federico Mondelci, Raffaele Trevisani, and the great Ewa Podles. The international opera community’s star baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who joined our roster in 2001, dedicated his most recent aria album, Heroes and Villains, to Amelia.
Amelia and I both considered Delos “Family Classics” to be among our most important ongoing projects; and the BabyNeeds recordings received worldwide recognition as the finest series ever produced for the very young. Perchance to Dream, a Lullaby Album for Children and Adults, was the precursor in this series, and in Amelia’s words “was welcomed for every human situation, beginning with the pre-natal. Parents found that it had a remarkably positive effect on infant behavior. We are gratified that the calming effect of this CD has provided solace to the very ill in hospital and hospice. Our aim with the entire BabyNeeds series is to call parents’ attention to the enrichment potential of such music for the very young. It has brought comfort and beauty to all ages; and parents comment that they are experiencing great music along with their children, having missed the opportunity themselves in schools that had cut out music programs.”
-Carol Rosenberger