FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Alexander Street Press announced an agreement with EMI to add all of the classical music tracks that the label has ever digitized—an estimated 45,000 in total—to Classical Music Library.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Tim Lloyd, Vice President of Business Development for Alexander Street. “This agreement doubles the size of our Classical Music Library product by spring 2006, making it the largest dedicated music listening service in the world."

The addition of new tracks will include famed performers such as Ian Bostridge, Pablo Casals, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Dame Janet Baker, Andres Segovia, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sarah Chang, Roberto Alagna, and Placido Domingo; ensembles such as the Kings Singers, Berlin Philharmonic, Eroica Trio, Halle Orchestra, Alban Berg Quartet, and Hilliard Ensemble; new operas such as Manon, Gianni Schicchi, and Susannah; and conductors such as Andre Previn, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, Christopher Eschenbach, and Sir John Barbirolli. These add to Classical Music Library’s ever-growing collection of complete operas, contemporary works, and vocal and choral masterpieces.

“The fact that we are able to grow Classical Music Library in such a dramatic fashion is really exciting,” said Stephen Rhind-Tutt, President of Alexander Street. “We think that students, librarians, and academics will really be floored with the amount of quality content we will be offering them in the next release.”

EMI is known for being the world’s oldest recording label, and for possessing the largest individual catalog of classical recordings in the world. EMI joins more than 30 major music labels that have licensing agreements with Alexander Street, including Sanctuary Classics, Hyperion, and CBC. Alexander Street also licenses directly with artists and orchestras that publish their own labels, such as the London Symphony Orchestra.

Named one of the “Best Reference Databases of 2004” by Library Journal, Classical Music Library offers librarians a wide selection of performances ranging from the earliest Gregorian chants to works by modern composers, including multiple versions of works to enable comparative listening. The database includes teaching tools, such as anthology playlists, static URLs, custom playlists, and course folders to help direct students toward course-related music.

A simple interface enables users to search by combining multiple fields, including artist, composer, instrument, genre and sub-genre, work or opus number, period, soloist, ensemble, key, and more.

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Alexander Street Press, L.L.C., is an academic publisher of electronic full-text databases in the humanities, social sciences, and music. Founded in June 2000, the company publishes collections in history, literature, music, women’s studies, sociology, ethnic and diversity studies, popular culture, film studies, the arts, and other areas. Alexander Street Press is located in Alexandria, Virginia. EDITORS: For additional information on Alexander Street Press and its products, please contact Eileen Lawrence, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, 800-889-5937 ext. 211, email lawrence@alexanderstreet.com, or visit http://alexanderstreet.com.