"Classical music downloads done right" - CNET

300,000+ Classical Tracks
More CD Quality Downloads than any other site


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About Passionato

Passionato's aim is to become the world's most comprehensive online classical resource and offer classical music lovers the largest available collection of high-quality DRM-free classical music downloads. Passionato provides access to catalogues from the two largest major labels (Universal Music and EMI Classics) as well as the key independent classical labels including Naxos (the biggest independent), Chandos (one of the premier British independent labels), Avie and Arts.

Designed for classical music lovers, Passionato's main features are: DRM-free recordings, transferable to any portable device and burnable to CD; high audio quality downloads (320kbps DRM-free MP3 and lossless FLAC); access to free software the Passionato Player specifically developed to help organise users' existing Classical CDs alongside tracks purchased through the Passionato Store; an unprecedented level of recording information which users benefit from when they download a track, work or album, and when they import their own CD libraries to their computers; the ability to search Passionato's recordings using over 20 fields, including by work, composer, conductor, venue and recording engineer.

Passionato does not employ any DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology. This means your purchase allows you to transfer your downloaded audio files to your portable player, CDs and other media for personal use. Purchase does not include file transfer for commercial purpose.

Meet the Team

James Glicker, Founder and CEO

James Glicker

James Glicker has worked in the music industry for twenty years. When James first conceived of the idea Passionato, he had just completed a two year term as President/CEO of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra where he was responsible for setting the orchestra's artistic and business goals, including opening the Music Centre at Strathmore, a 2000-seat concert hall and multi-disciplinary education facility near Washington DC in 2005. His parting shot in 2005 was to appoint Marin Alsop as Music Director, the first woman to be a music director of a major American orchestra.

James was previously President of MusicNow (now part of Napster), where he set up one of the world's first subscription services, (the other three being Rhapsody, Napster and MusicNet). He also secured the first ever 99 cents label deal with Warner in 2001, before Apple developed iTunes.

Prior to MusicNow, James was head of worldwide marketing at BMG Classics (now trading as RCA Victor), where he was charged with increasing sales of classical music across 60 countries worldwide. He was promoted to President of BMG Australia after four years, where he was responsible for sales promotion across not just classical music but also country, rock, hip hop, and pop.

James has held a number of interesting positions outside the music industry, for companies such as Geocities, the world's first online community, where he was part of a team that took GeoCities public and sold it to Yahoo for $4.3 billion. He has also been CEO of his own yoghurt company, Whitney, written speeches for the Chrysler Corporation and, as a Venture Partner at Venture Strategy (a VC fund based in San Francisco), sat on the boards of two AIM-listed companies in the UK, Gameplay and Systems Union.

James has a BA from Yale in English (minored in music) and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He took piano lessons from an early age, but got much of his musical inspiration from his uncle, Joe Mack, a respected studio bass player. 'Uncle Joe' played on a number of recordings including Bob Dylan's album 'Highway 66 Revisited', plus with the group 'The Archies', as well as on other recordings with The Supremes and Frank Sinatra. When James was sixteen he showed up late at a Guarneri String Quartet concert in Nantucket, and was allowed to sit on the floor just a few feet from the group, who after playing a Beethoven string quartet, played Bartok. James was blown away and from that moment on classical was central to his musical tastes. However, while he studied classical music at Yale (including advanced theory with Joan Panneti and a composition tutorial with David Mott), he still found time to participate in Yale's singing group scene, ultimately becoming Pitchpipe (Musical Director) of the world famous Yale Whiffenpoofs.

Jeremy Wilkinson, Content and Merchandising Director

Jeremy Wilkinson

Jeremy has spent twenty years in the classical record industry. He joined Passionato after spending six years running Britannia Music's Classical Club, one of the largest CD & DVD mail order clubs in Europe. During his time there, he expanded the range enormously, introducing many new labels and developing several exclusive boxed sets with major labels including DG and Decca. He also expanded Britannia's links with Gramophone magazine, culminating in the sponsorship of the 2003 Gramophone Awards.

Before joining Britannia Music, Jeremy spent twelve years in store-based retail, starting out as a Christmas temp working at HMV's original megastore in London's Oxford Street, ending up as manager of the Classical Department there, where he introduced radical new merchandising techniques that won the company's Merchandiser of the Year Award in 1995. He was also closely involved in the design and planning of the new flagship department, which opened in 2001.

At Passionato, Jeremy is responsible for the website content and design, including all commercial activity on the site related to Passionato's extensive range of recordings. A major part of his role is the development of the extensive databases necessary to provide the detailed information available to Passionato customers. He also manages the relationships with all the record labels and other repertoire suppliers, and is responsible for the acquisition of new labels.

Jeremy's interest in Classical music was kindled at an early age by regular visits to see the Halle Orchestra. An occupational hazard in CD retail, Jeremy's musical interests are somewhat eclectic, ranging from Early and Baroque to the Twentieth Century, though he has a particular passion for British music, piano and chamber music, film music, and unearthing gems from the lesser-known masters of the repertoire.

Jeremy has a B.A. in Modern History from The Queen's College, Oxford.