Virgin Classics was a record label founded in 1988 as part of Richard Branson's

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. The unit, along with

EMI Classics EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded musi ...

, was acquired by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

in 2012 as part of the takeover of the

EMI Group EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, however the terms of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

's September 2012 approval of the takeover requires divestment of the classical labels which were sold on 7 February 2013 to

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

approved the deal in May 2013. Warner Music's

Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records, Teldec Records and NVC Arts labels. Based in France, W ...

unit absorbed the Virgin Classics artists roster and catalogue into

Erato Records Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Disques Erato by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Boston, a ...

but lost the rights to use either EMI or Virgin names.

Principal artists

Piotr Anderszewski Piotr Anderszewski () (born 1969) is a Polish pianist and composer. Biographical background Anderszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father's family was part of Poland's aristocracy while his mother came from a Jewish Hungarian family. He s ...

Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journe ...

Nicholas Angelich Nicholas Michael Angelich (December 14, 1970 – April 18, 2022) was an American pianist. He was noted for performing internationally with ensembles from Europe and North America. Early life Angelich was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 14 ...

Fabio Biondi Fabio Biondi (born 15 March 1961) is an Italian violinist and conductor. He is a specialist in Baroque and early music. Biography Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi had a late start, having never even held a violin till age 11, but by the follo ...

Gautier Capuçon With Jean-Claude Casadesus Gautier Capuçon (born 3 September 1981) is a French cellist. Biography Gautier Capuçon was born in Chambéry, Savoie, the youngest of three siblings. His brother is the violinist Renaud Capuçon. He started learni ...

Renaud Capuçon Renaud Capuçon (born 27 January 1976) is a French classical violinist. Since late 2016 he has been teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music. Biography Capuçon was born in Chambéry on 27 January 1976. He entered the conservatory in ...

Max Emanuel Cencic Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

* William Christie *

Hughes de Courson Hughes de Courson is a French musician and arranger. The Malicorne years Hughes de Courson is best known for being on all of the albums by Malicorne. He played electric guitar, bass, crumhorn, percussion, recorder, positive organ, piano, e ...

* Alan Curtis (conductor) *

Diana Damrau Diana Damrau (; born 31 May 1971) is a German soprano who achieved international fame for her performances, primarily in opera, but also in concert and lieder. She has been successful in coloratura soprano roles since her early career, and gradua ...

* David Daniels *

Natalie Dessay Natalie Dessay (; born 19 April 1965) is a French singer, known for her former career as an operatic soprano. She gained wide recognition after her portrayal of Olympia in ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' in 1992, and then performing at leading stages, ...

Joyce DiDonato Joyce DiDonato (née Flaherty; born February 13, 1969) is an American lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano. She is notable for her interpretations of operas and concert works in the 19th-century romantic era in addition to works by Handel and Mozart. ...

David Fray David Fray (born 24 May 1981) is a French classical pianist. Voted "Newcomer of the Year 2008" by the ''BBC Music Magazine'', Fray has gained attention for his musical interpretation as well as his eccentricities in performance and rehearsal, wh ...

Vivica Genaux Vivica Genaux (; born July 10, 1969) is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. She was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has sung in major operas such as ''The Barber of Seville'' at the Metropolitan Opera, ''L'italiana in Algeri'' at Opéra National ...

Véronique Gens Véronique Gens (born 19 April 1966) is a French operatic soprano. She has spent much of her career recording and performing Baroque music, Baroque music. Gens was born in Orléans, France, and studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning fir ...

Emmanuelle Haïm Emmanuelle Haïm (; born 11 May 1962) is a French harpsichordist and conductor with a particular interest in early music and Baroque music. Early life, student and assistant years Haïm was born and grew up in Paris, and was raised Catholic al ...

Daniel Harding Daniel John Harding (born 31 August 1975) is a British conductor. Biography Harding was born in Oxford. He studied trumpet at Chetham's School of Music and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra at age 13. At age 17, Harding assembled ...

Philippe Jaroussky Philippe Jaroussky (born 13 February 1978) is a French countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory, and then took up the piano before turning to singing. Unusually for a countertenor ...

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian-American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to Liilia Järvi and the Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also mu ...

Truls Mørk Truls Olaf Otterbech Mørk (born 25 April 1961) is a Norwegian Cello, cellist. Biography Mørk was born in Bergen, Norway to a cellist father, John Fritjof Mørk, and a pianist mother, Turid Otterbech. His mother began teaching him the piano wh ...

* Roger Norrington *

Artemis Quartet The Artemis Quartet is a German string quartet, founded in 1989 in Lübeck, and now based in Berlin. The quartet is named for the Greek goddess of hunting and the wilderness. History The first members of the Artemis Quartet, Wilken Ranck, Is ...

* Quatuor Ebène *

Christina Pluhar Christina Pluhar (Graz, 1965) is an Austrian theorbist, harpist, conductor, and director of L'Arpeggiata ensemble.Herz Europas "Christina Pluhar ist eine der innovativsten Musikerinnen der Alte-Musik-Szene, die in ihren Projekten die Grenzen d ...

Valeriy Sokolov Valeriy Sokolov (born September 22, 1986)Christian Tetzlaff Christian Tetzlaff (born 29 April 1966) is a German violinist. Biography Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg. His parents were amateur musicians and met in a church choir. He began playing the violin and piano at the age of 6, and made his concert debu ...

Alexandre Tharaud Alexandre Tharaud (born 9 December 1968) is a French pianist. He is active on the concert stage and has released a large and diverse discography. Life and career Born in Paris, Tharaud discovered the music scene through his mother who was a danc ...

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...

(early recordings)

References

{{Authority control Classical music record labels EMI French record labels Record labels established in 1988 Record labels disestablished in 2013