EMI

The Electrical and Musical Industries Limited was founded in 1931 as a result of the merger between the Columbia Graphophone and the Gramophone Company. EMI made both gramophones and recordings via its prestigious HMV label, which featured the iconic image of the dog and trumpet. EMI opened the Abbey Road Studios in the same year and it was here that many classic performances of the recording era were made. Herbert von Karajan Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and later Otto Klemperer signed for the label in the post WWII years.

EMI Classics as a label came into being in 1990s shortly after the release of one of the biggest selling classical recordings in history, Nigel Kennedy’s first performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. EMI`s contemporary stars include Simon Rattle, Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Sarah Chang, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and the sopranos Angela Gheorghiu and Kate Royal.