Launch Party Announced For ‘Decca: The Supreme Record Company’ Book
The British Library will host a launch party for ‘Decca: The Supreme Record Company’, an acclaimed book celebrating the label’s 90th birthday.
To celebrate the publication of Decca: The Supreme Record Company – The Story Of Decca Records 1929-2019, a book celebrating the legacy of one of the greatest record labels in the world, a launch party will be held at the Knowledge Centre at the British Library in London on Tuesday 30 July, starting at 7pm.
An Evening With Decca will explore the label’s history through presentation, conversation and archive. During the event the editors of Decca: The Supreme Record Company, Daryl Easlea (curator of Decca 90, a year-round celebration of the label’s 90th birthday) and Darren Henley (former managing director of Classic FM), will take guests through the label’s rich 90-year history in a presentation called Fast Forward: The Complete History Of Decca In Six Records. A panel of music industry experts and musicians, including Rebecca Allen, Decca president, Dr Alexander Buhr, managing director of Decca Classics, and groundbreaking artists Jess Gillam and Isata Kanneh-Mason, will then explore Decca’s illustrious classical past and future.
Jess Gillam was the first saxophonist to reach the final of the BBC Young Musician competition in 2016 and made her BBC Proms debut in 2017. Her debut album for Decca Classics, Rise, debuted at the top of the UK Official Classical Chart. She launched her new BBC Radio 3 series This Classical Life in April and became the station’s youngest presenter.
Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s debut album Romance also topped the UK Official Classical Chart. Her album celebrates Clara Schumann, one of the most distinguished composers and pianists of the Romantic era, and heralds the 200th anniversary of her birth in September. This season Isata will perform at the Cheltenham Music Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and her debut recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall with her cellist brother Sheku.
Decca: The Supreme Record Company documents Decca’s fascinating development from a prosperous British company into a fully-fledged international powerhouse throughout the label’s history spanning 90 years. This definitive book features rare photography, never-seen-before archive material, and is full of lively anecdotes and insights into the label.
Decca has been the home to countless legendary musicians from Luciano Pavarotti to David Bowie, Dame Vera Lynn to Bing Crosby, Tom Jones to Billie Holiday, The Rolling Stones to Mantovani and is now providing the platform for a new generation of ambitious artists at the forefront of their genres who continue to represent the label’s cultural legacy. Decca’s history touches on every aspect of modern music, both classical and pop, from the beginnings of sound recording to today’s chart-topping superstars.
For more details about the event contact:
The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB
+44 (0)1937 546546 or boxoffice@bl.uk
Decca: The Supreme Record Company – The Story Of Decca Records 1929-2019 is out now and can be bought here.
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