BERLIN (CelebrityAccess) — Universal Music Group’s Deutsche Grammophon, hailed as the world’s oldest record label, announced the launch of STAGE+, a new streaming service focused on the world of classical music.
According to the label, Stage+ will offer livestreams, a large archive of performance videos, as well as new audio releases, as well as back catalog from Deutsche Grammophon and Decca.
In addition, the streaming platform will partner with international opera companies, orchestras, concert halls and festivals, such as the prestigious Bayreuth to feature new live performances every week.
Upcoming performances include Víkingur Ólafsson performing music from his latest album, From Afar, in full from Harpa, Iceland, and further content in the first few weeks includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio performed at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Max Richter’s Voices from Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on Human Rights Day and a Mahler cycle from Vienna’s Musikverein, Deutsche Grammophon said.
As well, the live and video-on-demand streams will also feature content from Deutsche Grammophon’s Yellow Lounge classical club nights and a Rising Stars series, along with performances at World Heritage Sites such as the Forbidden City, Sistine Chapel or the neolithic settlement of Carnac in France.
Technical features of the streaming service include extensive metadata, allowing classical music fans to search via title and access individual works, movements or opera scenes, with every search linked to all relevant audio and video content available for any particular artist, composer, work, venue or partner organization.
Users will be able to save favorites and download performances for offline listening with content being offered in the highest possible quality, including Hi-Res and Dolby Atmos, Deutsche Grammophon said.
“We are about to enter an exciting new era for streamed classical performances,” says Deutsche Grammophon’s Vice President Consumer Business, Robert Zimmermann. “STAGE+ will explore the limitless creative and curatorial possibilities that digital technologies have to offer to bring the creative work of DG’s artists – and beyond – closer to their audience.”
“STAGE+ uniquely immerses the fan in a dedicated multi-dimensional classical experience of the highest quality, complementing the breadth of our repertoire presented on our partners’ services.” he said. “It offers artists the place for their live and filmed performances to sit directly alongside their studio recordings, enabling an integrated experience for classical artist discovery by devoted fans of the genre,” added Dickon Stainer, President and CEO of Global Classics & Jazz and Verve Label Group.
