Video Artists International

Last updated
Video Artists International
Founded1983 (1983)
FounderErnest Gilbert
Genreclassical music
Country of originUnited States
Location Pleasantville, New York
Official website www.vaimusic.com

Video Artists International (VAI), is an independent American DVD-label specializing in classical music performances founded in 1983, and based in Pleasantville, NY. The company started as one of the first labels to release complete operas and ballets on home video, originally in VHS videocassette format. [1] [2] In the early 1990s the label added historical CDs (using the name Video Artists International Audio or VAIA) to its video catalogue. [3] VAI's video catalog includes an extensive series of performances from The Bell Telephone Hour. Among the first CDs were performances of arias by Phyllis Curtin, and the 1962 recording of the New Orleans Opera's production of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah (with Curtin and Norman Treigle). [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

Carlisle Floyd American composer (1926–2021)

Carlisle Sessions Floyd was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post-civil war South, the Great Depression and rural life. His best known opera, Susannah, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha, transferred to contemporary rural Tennessee, and written for a Southern dialect. It was premiered at Florida State University in 1955, with Phyllis Curtin in the title role. When it was staged at the New York City Opera the following year, the reception was initially mixed; some considered it a masterpiece, while others degraded it as a 'folk opera'. Subsequent performances led to an increase in Susannah's reputation and the opera quickly became among the most performed of American operas.

Naxos (company) Record label specializing in classical music

Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 17 labels including Naxos Records, Naxos Audiobooks, and Naxos Books (ebooks). There are about an additional 50 labels that are independent of the Naxos Musical Group with a wide range of offerings.

Phyllis Curtin American operatic soprano

Phyllis Curtin was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in operas by Carlisle Floyd, such as the title role in Susannah and Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights. She was a dedicated song recitalist, who retired from singing in 1984. She was named Boston University's Dean Emerita, College of Fine Arts in 1991.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is a record label specializing in the production of audiophile issues. The company is best known for its reissued vinyl LP records, compact discs, and Super Audio CDs but has also produced other formats.

David Chesworth is an Australian-based interdisciplinary artist and composer. Known for his experimental and at times minimalist music, he has worked solo, in post-punk groups, electronic music, contemporary ensembles and experimental performance. He has also created installation and video artworks with collaborator Sonia Leber, such as Zaum Tractor included in the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) and This Is Before We Disappear From View commissioned by Sydney Biennale (2014).

Music industry Companies and individuals that create and sell music

The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers, musicians, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels, music publishers, recording studios, music producers, audio engineers, retail and digital music stores, and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and the booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew, and audio engineers who help organize and sell concerts.

A CD single is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term CD single is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD. It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any size, particularly the CD5, or 5-inch CD single. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s. With the rise in digital downloads in the early 2010s, sales of CD singles have decreased.

Pink Floyd discography Band discography

The discography of the English rock group Pink Floyd consists of 15 studio albums, four live albums, nine compilation albums, five box sets, six extended plays, and 27 singles. Formed in 1965, Pink Floyd initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. The group have sold over 250 million records worldwide, including 75 million units sold in the United States.

<i>Susannah</i> Opera by Carlisle Floyd

Susannah is an opera in two acts by the American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending. The story focuses on 18-year-old Susannah Polk, an innocent girl who is targeted as a sinner in the small mountain town of New Hope Valley, in the Southern American state of Tennessee.

Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror.

Unicorn-Kanchana

Unicorn-Kanchana is a British independent record label founded by John Goldsmith, a former London police officer. Originally known as Unicorn Records, the name Kanchana was added later to distinguish the company from Unicorn Digital of Montréal, Canada which many progressive rock bands like Mystery are signed to. In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, the female name Kanchana means an Apsara, a spirit of the clouds and waters.

Harry Theyard is an American operatic tenor.

Richard Cassilly American opera singer

Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 years", and particularly excelled in Wagnerian roles like Tristan, Siegmund and Tannhäuser, and in dramatic parts that required both stamina and vocal weight, such as Giuseppe Verdi's Otello and Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson.

Werner Torkanowsky was a successful German conductor in both the concert hall and opera house.

Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.

Eugene Conley was a celebrated American operatic tenor.

Robert Moulson American opera singer

Robert Moulson was an American classical tenor who had an active international career in operas and concerts from the late 1950s through the 1980s. He became particularly associated with the role of Lenny Small in Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men; a role which he recorded and portrayed in its original production at the Seattle Opera in 1970.

Knud D. Andersson was a German-born American conductor. He enjoyed a long association with the New Orleans Opera where he served as first assistant conductor and choral director from 1953 to 1965 and then music director and resident conductor from 1965 until his retirement in 1983. The city of New Orleans honored him with certificates of merit in 1957 and 1967.

<i>Markheim</i> (opera)

Markheim is an opera in one act by composer Carlisle Floyd. The work uses an English language libretto by the composer, after the story of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson. The opera was premiered by the New Orleans Opera on March 31, 1966, under the baton of Knud Andersson, and directed by the composer. The original cast was led by Norman Treigle in the title role, with Alan Crofoot as Josiah Creach, Audrey Schuh as Tess, and William Diard as the Stranger. A recording of the original cast was released on the Video Artists International record label, in 1995.

Carroll Freeman is an American operatic tenor, opera director, and music educator. He began his career as a prominent boy soprano in the 1960s. From the late 1970s through the mid 1990s he performed widely as a tenor with opera companies and orchestras in the United States. After that he worked as a director of opera productions with opera companies throughout North America. He is the former director of the opera program at the University of Tennessee and currently directs the opera program at Georgia State University. He is also the former Artistic Director of Mississippi Opera, Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, and opera studios at Knoxville Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera.

References

  1. Fanfare - Volume 8, 3 Page 73 Joel Flegler - 1985 "Recently I called the VAI offices to find out about this small company and its plans for the future. Video Arts International VAI's founder and president, Ernest Gilbert, has been a dance and opera enthusiast since childhood, and won his spurs ..."
  2. Billboard - 18 Jan 1986 Vol. 98, n° 3 "Ernest Gilbert, president of New York-based Video Arts International (VAI), expects cultural programs to be among the survivors this year in the face of a shakeout in the video software market."
  3. The Gramophone - Volume 69, 2 1991 "VAI CD Launch "While many of the major record labels are turning to home video," says VAI's president, Ernest Gilbert, "one rapidly-growing home video company is reversing thai trend with the addition of audio-only material to its product mix."
  4. Andrew L. Pincus -Musicians with a mission: keeping the classical tradition alive Page 85 2002 "Late in the 1990s, however, Ernest Gilbert, President of Video Artists International, heard that Curtin's husband had preserved tapes of many of her live performances... Compact-disc releases followed on his VAI label, which specializes in historic recordings, mostly from live performances, in both video and audio formats. The debut disc offered a collection of ten arias by Mozart, Charpentier, Verdi, Giordano, Puccini, Floyd and Strauss recorded from 1960 to 1968."
  5. Songwriter's Market: 1,600 Places to Market Your Songs 1999 Page 212 "Video Artists International. President: Ernest Gilbert. Record company, video label and distributor. Estab. 1983. Pays negotiable royalty to artists on contract; other amount to publisher per song on record. How to Contact: Does not accept unsolicited material.... Released Susannah (album by Carlisle Floyd), recorded by New Orleans Opera Orchestra and Chorus, on VAI Audio. Other artists include Jon Vickers, Rosalyn Tureck..."