Erato Records [SEP] inception
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, and he made Erato's first recording, in January 1953 Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum with Les Jeunesses Muslcales.
Michel Garcin became the label's artistic director and producer and built up the catalogue with contemporary French composers such as Henri Dutilleux and French artists: Jean-François
had developed a program called "The Sacred Bridge," exploring Jewish and Christian interactions during the Middle Ages. In 1988 Erato Records decided to make a recording of this program. Still in demand after more than two decades, the recording has recently been reissued on Warner Classics.
The "Sacred Bridge" program continues to tour internationally; most recently (April 2007) in Worcester, Massachusetts and Paris, France. Since its inception it has undergone considerable development, and now includes an important Arabic/Muslim component. Recent