Sony Masterworks
Sony Music Masterworks (also known simply as Sony Masterworks) is a record label, the result of a restructuring of Sony Music's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterworks. The label was formed from the merger of the product lines of Sony Classical and BMG Classics (including RCA Red Seal) Its first president was Gilbert Hetherwick, from January 2005 through November 2006, displacing Peter Gelb who was the head of Sony Classical before the merger.
Sony Masterworks
- Name
- Sony Masterworks
- Founded
- 2006
- Founder
- Sony Music
- Headquarters
- New York City
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Sony Masterworks. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q7562494 · wikipedia · Sony Masterworks
In this article
Overview
Overview
Hetherwick claimed (as of 2005) the label may reissue between one hundred and two hundred historical recordings per year. Hetherwick left in November 2006, to be replaced by Alex Miller, a former BMG Employee. The label owns rights to famous recordings originally issued by the Victor Talking Machine Company/RCA Victor dating from the early to mid 20th century, by artists such as Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leopold Stokowski, Mario Lanza, Fritz Reiner, Artur Rubinstein, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Eugene Ormandy and Van Cliburn as well as from more recent performers such as Yo-Yo Ma, and Joshua Bell. It is also responsible for Sony BMG's immense archives of film scores (including Star Wars, The Phantom of the Opera, Memoirs of a Geisha among others). Masterworks maintains the archive of theater soundtracks, via its Masterworks Broadway imprint. It issues jazz recordings through its Okeh Records imprint. Masterworks also handles the Portrait Records and Flying Buddha Records imprints. In July 2019, Masterworks acquired the soundtrack label Milan Records. The merged label's name echoes the moniker used by Sony Classical's predecessor, Columbia Masterworks (later CBS Masterworks). The name was changed when CBS sold its records division to Sony in 1988. Masterworks has several imprints, used for newer recordings on its own imprints, and compilations and reissues for releases in conjunction with Legacy Recordings. In November 2022, it was announced Sony Music Masterworks had acquired a majority stake in the Dubai-based concert promotion, talent management, events and production company MAC Global.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Sony Masterworks • Parent — Sony Music Entertainment (SME) • Founded — 2006 • Genre — Classical Classical crossover Broadway Jazz • Country — U.S. • Url — www.sonymasterworks.com
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Sony Masterworks is associated with United States.
Country
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Sony Masterworks, revision 1267293309 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
44,023 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- SonotonOrganisation
- Sons LtdOrganisation
- Sonu NigamPerson
- Sony ClassicalOrganisation
- Sony MusicOrganisation
- Sony Music AfricaOrganisation
- Sony Music AustraliaOrganisation
- Sony Music Entertainment JapanOrganisation
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Sony Masterworks?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.