| Opus | |
|---|---|
 Opus headquarters in Bratislava | |
| Parent company | Warner Music Group |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Founder | Supraphon |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | Czechoslovakia |
| Location | Bratislava |
| Official website | opus |
Opus was a major Czechoslovak state-owned record label and music publishing house based in Bratislava, now known as Opus a.s.. [1]
Opus was founded in 1971 and spun off as the Slovak division of music label Supraphon. [2] As such, it was the first Slovak record label. It was privatized in 1990 and purchased by Forza Music s.r.o. in 2005. When Warner Music Group acquired Forza in 2019, they expected to revive the Opus label for pop, rock, and children's music. [3] The label is active to this day and operates under the name Opus a.s. [2]
In addition to Slovak, and later Czech, artists and bands, the label also published works by foreign artists from countries including Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Yugoslavia, and Greece.
Opus is a Latin word meaning "(a result of) work". Italian equivalents are opera (singular) and opere (plural).
Parlophone Records Limited is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. They grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, OMD, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols, and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.
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London Recordings is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London name – as London American Recordings, often shortened to London American – was also used by British Decca in the UK market, for releases taken from American labels, which British Decca licensed.
Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in Sunday Times Rich List 2009 of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books and radio, Chrysalis now focuses on the areas of music publishing, music recording, artist management and entertainment product distribution. The music branch includes The Hit Label, Echo and Papillon Records.
Warner Music Group Corp. is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 4,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
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Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Erato Disques S.A. 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.
Peter Lipa is a Slovak singer, composer, and promoter of jazz. He has been called the Father of Slovak Jazz. Lipa is regarded as the most significant figure in the Slovak jazz scene. He developed a unique vocal style that focused on the lyrics. His music is influenced by performers including Jimmy Rushing, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Joe Cocker, and Bobby McFerrin, and is a mix of jazz and blues. He was the first jazz singer to use Slovak.
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