Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records have joined forces to release approximately three albums per year over an initial three-year period. This partnership is the result of conversations between the two New York-based labels about their long-term shared values to support the work of several generations of American composers, with the intention of enabling those artists to realize creative ambitions that might not otherwise be achievable. The collaboration reflects the fifty-four-year-old Nonesuch’s legacy and the accomplishments of the ten-year-old New Amsterdam, combining their resources in order to share newly-recorded music with a wider audience.
The first three New Amsterdam/Nonesuch releases will be by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, composer and New Amsterdam Co-Artistic Director William Brittelle, and Los Angeles–based composer Daniel Wohl. Further details of all three albums will be announced shortly.
New Amsterdam Co-Artistic Director Judd Greenstein said, “No record label has been more of a model to us than Nonesuch, in their representation of the world of music as defined solely by quality and vision, not genre or style. It is an absolute honor to be working together on these albums, which we hope will help amplify some of the strongest voices in our community and help bring their music to new audiences. We’ve always believed in working together with like-minded organizations and this has the capacity to be our most impactful and transformative partnership yet.”
“About five years ago, Bob Hurwitz, then the president of Nonesuch, approached Judd Greenstein of New Amsterdam to see if there might be a place for a partnership between the two labels, since we greatly admired the way Judd and his partners Sarah Kirkland Snider and William Brittelle had created a community to foster the work of young composers,” said Nonesuch President David Bither. “A shared set of goals and friendship quickly became apparent and over the next several years, the five of us explored ways Nonesuch could help to provide both resources and a worldwide platform for projects that might not otherwise be feasible for New Amsterdam. Bob and I are very happy that this idea has finally come to fruition and look forward to the first New Amsterdam/Nonesuch titles arriving this spring.”
Established on principles of community, artistic diversity, and stylistic freedom, New Amsterdam Records (NewAm) is a not-for-profit artist’s service organization dedicated to supporting the public’s engagement with new music by composers and performers whose work transcends traditional and outdated genre distinctions. Founded in 2008 as a community-based cooperative record label, NewAm was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2011. The label has released more than one hundred records from artists including Roomful of Teeth, Darcy James Argue, Missy Mazzoli, Jace Clayton and more, and its artists have won numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award, nine Grammy nominations, and a Pulitzer Prize. New Amsterdam has also curated and presented more than 500 live concerts of groundbreaking new music including world premieres, semi-staged operas, record releases, music festivals, and chamber music.
Founded as a classical label in 1964, Nonesuch Records has grown over the last five decades to pursue a broad mission, including classical music, contemporary music, jazz, traditional American and world music, popular and alternative music, and music theater. Over the last three decades, Nonesuch has signed and released recordings by artists such as John Adams, Laurie Anderson, The Black Keys, David Byrne, Ry Cooder, Jeremy Denk, Fleet Foxes, Rhiannon Giddens, Richard Goode, Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, Lake Street Dive, k.d. lang, Audra McDonald, Brad Mehldau, Natalie Merchant, Pat Metheny, Nico Muhly, Randy Newman, Mandy Patinkin, Robert Plant, Punch Brothers, Joshua Redman, Steve Reich, Stephen Sondheim, Chris Thile, and Caetano Veloso, among many others.
