Welcome to the Classical Archives™ – a music website designed for a vital but often overlooked audience: lovers of Classical Music, Jazz, Broadway, Film Soundtracks, and World Music. We call our service “Music For The Rest Of Us®.”
Loading, please wait...| Largest classical music site on the web: | 620,000 files you can listen to (stream), or purchase in DRM-free MP3 for download by 7,000 composers and 27,000 artists from over 120 recording labels. Also includes the largest collection of free classical music MIDI files. |
|---|---|
| Site inception: |
1994 (Operating as www.prs.net since March 1995) |
|
Classical Archives, LLC organized in California |
2000 (Operating as www.classicalarchives.com since August 2000) |
| Main Domain: |
classicalarchives.com prs.net and prs.com are equivalent and also valid.
TIP: Enter "prs" in your browser's address bar and press Control-Enter (IE/FireFox).
|
| Media File Types: |
|
| Head Office Address: |
Classical Archives LLC 200 Sheridan Ave Ste 403 Palo Alto CA 94306-2041 (Support offices in Denver, Moscow, Paris, San Diego/La Jolla, and Voronezh) 1-650-330-8050 (11AM-6PM Pacific Time) Email the Archives |
The Classical Archives was created in 1994 by Pierre R. Schwob while he was living in Hong Kong. The World Wide Web was at the beginning of its exponential growth and he published a small web page—"The Archives of Classical MIDI Sequences"—to share about 40 MIDI classical music files he had sequenced. At the bottom of the page, Schwob invited visitors to send him their own sequences. He emailed several potential contributors and explained that he wanted to provide a central location on the web where classical music MIDI files would be available and clearly cataloged to permit others to locate them easily. Rather quickly, the site attracted such important collections as the complete Scarlatti Sonatas by John Sankey and other wonderful sequences by Finley, Hisamori, Moclin, Yokochan and others.
Soon after inception, the site moved under the URL "www.prs.net" – usually as a virtual server, hosted by friends who believed in the merit of such an endeavor and who agreed to provide space on their servers. Schwob maintained the site as a hobby, spending one to two hours each day to catalog the submissions and to answer what became a steady stream of correspondence from all over the world. The site became an important stop for classical music lovers on the net, and its value was underlined by the requests (usually granted) to mirror the whole site by several universities and organizations on different continents.
In 1997, right after the reversion of Hong Kong to China, Schwob moved back to the U.S. and settled in Silicon Valley where he continued to develop the Archives. Then in 1999, he received an offer to sell the site to an outstanding group that had an intense interest in music and culture. However, once Schwob and the potential buyers quickly determined that they were temperamentally well suited for each other, and as Schwob was not all that keen to completely let go of the site, it was agreed that the Classical Archives would be organized (Classical Archives, LLC) with Schwob as CEO, and the group would provide an infusion of capital to permit the Archives to greatly expand its offering.
Although the Archives continued offering most of its contents to visitors at no charge, it began seeking the support of its users so that the site could both grow and maintain its position as the premier web site for music and culture lovers. A subscription system was launched which allowed those users who wished to subscribe to do so by contributing $25/year for an Individual Subscription.
Shortly thereafter, David Barg joined the Archives as Artistic Director. David is an internationally noted conductor with a deep commitment to music education and to working with young musicians and conductors. With David's help, the Archives launched its "Featured Artists" section, which offered live recordings in WMA and MP3 by outstanding orchestras, soloists and vocalists. David also created the "Learning Center" where he shared tips with other conductors and with music students. The number of wonderful letters and emails we received about the Learning Center was testimony of the impact and value of this inspired effort. To expand its educational thrust, the Archives underwrote the on-line publication of illustrated biographies of great composers by Allen Krantz, composer, guitarist, and lecturer on music history at Temple University; and of the thought-provoking editorials written by Warren Pepperdine, Professor Emeritus at Indiana University at South Bend, that have appeared in our columns.
Many new features were soon added, notably the Classical Archives Radio Station, a search engine allowing searches both by keywords and by composers; and timelines and historical displays that provided a historical context for composers and their music. The Archives was most proud of the continued addition of outstanding artists to its roster, largely due to the wonderful efforts of Leila Yangurazova, our ambassador in Moscow. When David, due to the pressures of his conducting schedule, had to move back to New York and had to restrict himself to the management of our Learning Center, we had the extraordinary good fortune to be joined by Dr. Nolan Gasser—now our Artistic Director—who is an outstanding musicologist (Stanford Ph.D.), composer, arranger, and performer with an unbounded enthusiasm for our mission.
In January 2009, after an intense period of development, we launched the new Classical Archives with a much more aggressive mission: to include, in addition to our legacy content, the complete catalogs of the classical music record labels, in a new and completely redesigned website which we believe offers a quantum leap in music site design and navigation. At the core of our efforts is the work of a small army of dedicated musicologists who continue working tirelessly to catalog and properly classify the music we are adding to the new site so that it can be presented in a complete and sophisticated, yet intuitive manner. As we now include music from record companies in our offering, we have had to modify our subscription plan. We now offer a monthly plan for $9.95/month and an annual plan for $99.50/year. We believe that we offer a compelling experience that is still at the low end of the current music services price spectrum. In addition, we offer 10% discounts on all music purchased for download by subscribers to our new service. Finally, and in keeping with our origins, we shall continue to offer free access to all our members to the many thousands MIDI files that are given to the Archives by our wonderful and committed contributors.
A great debt of gratitude is owed our Chief Engineer Vladimir Volovich, Unix and Perl guru extraordinaire, who, after many years and countless hours of providing invaluable support to the Archives, was finally convinced to join our team on a full time basis. We recognize our Director of Web Engineering Dimitri Stamatis who also happens to be a brilliant flamenco guitarist and teacher, and Nik Orfanos our Design Director without whom the exquisite human interface of our new site would not have reached its full potential. We also thank Layne Tippets (Stanford JD) who joined us as Rights Manager but whose backgrounds in law and accounting are put to use on a much broader range of tasks. Finally, we must mention the tireless efforts of our system administrators in Colorado, and those of our administrative support teams in La Jolla and San Diego. All these people are a joy to work with and their dedication and inspiration make the Archives an invaluable asset on the internet for all.
We all look forward to the continuing development of the Archives, particularly to fully realizing the mission inherent in our motto, Music for the Rest of Us®, by expanding our offerings to include other important genres of music, such as jazz, world music, film scores and Broadway musicals. All this made possible by the happy marriage of technology and a great reverence for our cultural treasures.
PIERRE R. SCHWOB
CEO and Founder
Born in Los Angeles, brought up in Geneva, Switzerland;
lived 15 years in New York, 11 years in Hong Kong,
now in Palo Alto, CA. Self-taught (except in flying);
built his first computer in 1977;
books published on history (translated into several languages),
calculators (chosen as special selection
of the Mathematical Book Club) and chess openings.
Adjunct assistant professor computer science, N.Y.U. 1981-86;
holder of several U.S. and foreign patents;
founded PRS Corporation, an R&D company in 1978
where he developed the award-winning ID LOGIC® technology
which was incorporated into a U.S. national standard
and licensed to the major consumer electronics manufacturers.
Appointed Co-Chairman & CEO of Classical Archives, LLC in August 2000.
Pierre is a hopeful amateur musician who has served on
the board of directors of several classical music organizations.
A cosmology and astronomy groupie (asteroid 32890 Schwob has
been graciously named after him), he helped establish the Computing and Information Center at
the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford/SLAC.
Happy on his boat, he is happiest scuba diving under it.
He is blessed with his son Jonathan (1989) and his daughter Nathania (2001).
More details on his vanity page...
DR. NOLAN GASSER
Artistic Director
Born and raised in Southern California, Nolan is a critically acclaimed composer,
pianist, conductor and arranger, as well as a published musicologist. He received his Ph.D.
in Musicology in 2001 from Stanford University, where he is an Adjunct Professor in
Medieval and Renaissance Music History. Nolan studied composition in Paris (and Fontainbleau)
with Betsy Jolas, Gilbert Amy and Tristan Murail; received a Masters in Composition from NYU
(studying with Todd Brief and Menachem Zur) and a Bachelors of Music degree from
California State University, Northridge (studying with Aurelio de la Vega).
He is the composer of numerous award-winning musical works, ranging in style from classical
to jazz to popular, including music for the stage. His works have been performed in such
prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Alice Tully Hall, and La Salle Pleyel
in Paris. His Oration on July 4th ? the first movement of his oratorio American Festivals ?
for orchestra, chorus, and orator was premiered to great success at the Spoleto Festival in
Charleston, SC in May 2004 by the Charleston Symphony and Chorus under Maestro David Stahl,
and with actor Sam Waterston as orator. In February 2005, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus,
under Maestro David Loebel will premier the second movement of the oratorio, Black Suit Blues,
for orchestra, chorus, and baritone soloist. Nolan also performs and records regularly with
marquee performers as diverse as Steve Miller, John Handy, and Carol Channing.
He recently enjoyed great commercial success with his holiday song,
Christmas by the Bay. In all, Nolan brings to the Classical Archives a rich and
eclectic array of musical interests and expertise, along with a great enthusiasm for
the mission and philosophy of the company. He lives in the Petaluma, CA with his wife Lynn,
and their two children, Camille and Preston.
DAVID A. BARG
Director of the Learning Center
David is internationally recognized for his work with young musicians
and conductors. The co-founder of the Barg-Fritz Institute for
Continuing Conductor Education, he led the opening session of the
Metropolitan Opera Guild's Winter Choral Directors Workshop in spring 2002.
His conducting workbook is in pre-publication.
Barg works with young musicians and conductors throughout America
and around the world. In North America in 2001-02, Barg worked with
young orchestras in Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York,
Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Boston, Kansas City, Atlanta,
Miami and elsewhere. Barg has conducted professional ensembles in
the US, Europe, Russia, Australia, and has been a
Cultural Ambassador for the United States Information Agency.
He recently made his debut with the Moscow State Radio & Television
Orchestra at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory,
a concert that was recorded for Russian radio and on CD.
David has a daughter, Vanessa.
VLADIMIR V. VOLOVICH
Chief Engineer
Born in 1971 in Voronezh, Russia (Soviet Union), which is in the
middle of the European part of Russia (the "Black Earth" region),
600 kilometers to the south of Moscow. Studied
piano in musical school (7 years). Earned his M.Sc. in theoretical physics
at the Voronezh State University in 1995, then worked as an assistant researcher
in the department of theoretical physics. Published several journal
articles on particle physics. Vladimir also has an avid interest
in mathematics, particularly topology, differential geometry, and
category theory. Now he concentrates mostly on computer science.
Vlad joined the team of the Classical Archives when he created the
first mirror of the Archives in 1996, deployed at the Voronezh
University. He is married to Natasha who is also an engineer and they
have two sons: Vasily (Basil) and Evgeny (Eugene).
DIMITRI STAMATIS
Director Web Engineering
Born in San Francisco, California, Dimitri is a professional musician,
computer programmer and flamenco guitar teacher. He earned his B.S.
in Psychology in 1999 at SFSU, and has been involved with computers
since the age of 10, when he created his first algorithm using BASIC
on his Atari 800 XL.
NIK ORFANOS
Director Interactive Web Technologies
A specialist in Information Services, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area,
Nik is a welcome addition the Classical Archives team. He was formerly a co-founder
of a local design company, White Noise Design, where he managed and developed web
projects for bay area marketing firms, musicians, and even a "magazine format" program
on The Golf Channel. Prior to this, he was the Technical Director
of an Enterprise Marketing and Consulting firm, Cymbic. There he led the technical
development, integration, usability and interface design for dozens of engineering
projects emphasizing supply chain, business metrics, system control and customer
relationships. Constantly testing and exploring new technologies, he hopes to bring
an exciting and interactive experience to all our users.
DR. LEILA YANGURAZOVA
Senior Representative for Russia
Born in Tashkent (former USSR) her early years were dedicated
to ballet, piano, Russian literature and mathematics.
After the catastrophic earthquake of 1966, she moved
to Moscow where she graduated from the mathematics
department of the physics faculty at Moscow University.
She worked in various branches of geophysics, astrophysics,
lasers, and ecology. She earned her PhD in 1988 after defending
her thesis on The Collapse of Dense Stellar Clusters at the
Institute of Cosmic Research of the Russian Academy of
Science. Following "Perestroika," she immersed
herself in several social and cultural causes. She became involved
with The Seasons, a Moscow chamber orchestra.
She wrote an article on J.Krishnamurti which was later reprinted in several of his
books. She produced the successful tour of the famous classical
Indian singer Shobha Joshi which was broadcast by the major
Russian radio stations and NTV (1999). Since then she is a regular participant in
radio shows. She also appeared in several Moscow and Tatarstan radio programs about Islam
(autumn, 2001). She was a charter member (CTM) of The Toastmaster International Club,
(The Moscow Free Speakers) of which she became President in 1995,
and now she is working on establishing the second TM Club
in Moscow. Her son Shamil Sunyaev is a molecular
biologist who heads a laboratory at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.
LAYNE TIPPETS
Rights Manager
Born in Billings, Montana, Layne received his undergraduate degree in
Business from the University of Montana. His primary areas of study were
accounting, business management and economics. After graduating from
college, Layne moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend and graduate
from the Stanford School of Law. After passing the California Bar, most of
his past work experience centered around tax and other legal and accounting
work, both working for law and accounting firms, and as an independent
consultant. Layne came to the Archives because it afforded him an
opportunity to use his legal and accounting skills in conjunction with his
long-held interest in the digital music business. Some of Layne's most
rewarding work involved developing an early prototype of a custom digital
recording service at Custom Digital Sounds, a firm he founded in 1986 in
Palo Alto. As a Certified Macintosh Software Developer, he also developed
an early prototype of a multimedia encyclopedia for grade school children in
the late 80's. Layne and his wife, Terri, have two daughters, Lauren and
Katie, and a son, Matthew.
POINT SURVEY: Top 5% and Top Ten Site Hall of Fame- CREATIVE INSPIRE: Award
INTERNET 1996 WORLD EXPO: Gold Medal- WORLD WIDE WEB ASSOCIATES: Top 1/10th of 1% of its category
- I-WAY 500: 1st of 25 winners in the Shareware/Downloadable Goodies
- WEB TV Networks: Selected CMA
- LYCOS: A 2 Z Popular Site
- WEB CRAWLER: Select
- YAHOO: A "Must See"
- WINDOWS MAGAZINE: Hot Spot
- TechWeb's NETGUIDE: Award
- PLANET EARTH: Top 100 Sites On The Planet
- COOL SITE OF THE NIGHT: Award
- FAIRVIEW H.S.: Golden Music Page Award
- ENHANCE SOFTWARE: Silver Award
- MAIN STREET EARTH: Ribbon of Distinction
- DAILY DOUBLE: Award of Excellence
- THE CLASSICAL MIDI CONNECTION: Site of the Week
- JASON BORNEMAN: Coolest Site
- ACME PET MULTIMEDIA GALLERY: Winner Award
- HAL-PC: Hot Links Hall of Fame
- COOL SITE OF THE HOUR: Award
- NEW WAVERLY PUBLIC LIBRARY: Best Of The Web
- YOUR PERSONAL NET: Top 100 Websites
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Navigator Selection- PC-WEBOPAEDIA: Outstanding!
- McKinley's MAGELLAN: Three Stars
- MARTIN'S: Pick Of The Week Award
- THE NIGHT WRITER: Award of Web Wizardry
- INGA & THOMMY: Link of the Week
- THE TOXBOE GROUP: Award
- THE DUKE OF URL: Classy Site Pick Award
- GOTO.COM: Editors' Choice Award
- STUDY WEB: Academic Excellence Award
- ASHGATE ARACHNID: Medaille d'Or
- SUZANNE LAFONTAINE: Top 1% Webmaster's Resource
- SURFING THE NET WITH KIDS: Four Stars
- THE MEDALLION WEB AWARD ORGANIZATION: Mark of Excellence
- THE MINING COMPANY: Best of the Net
- THE FATHOM ORGANIZATION: The Cats Meow
Netscape's Open Directory Project: Cool Site- MIDI NOBEL AWARD: Creative Excellence
- SITE DU JOUR OF THE DAY: Award
- MAJON CYBERMALL: Web Select Award
- MIDI MANIA: Hall of Fame
- ABLOOM GRAPHICS DESIGN BY STARLA: Web Page Excellence
- THE DRAG'N LADY: Award of Excellence
- STARTING POINT: Hot Site
- INFOSEEK: Double Check
- DR. WEBSTER: Web Site of the Day
- HENRY THE VIRTUAL CAT: Four Cat Rating
- BBC ON LINE: Online Web Guide, Art & Culture
- SONG SEARCH: Top Music Award Winner
- 3A WEBCON: Award
- SIMPLY THE BEST: Software Award
- ECLECTIC ARTISTRY: 5 Star Award
I-PROBE: Most Useful Site on the Web! Award- DISCOVER IT: Discovered!
- SIR DARE: MUST SEE
- MUSIC.TOP10: Top 10% Sites
- OZNET.NET: Concert Master Award for Concert at the Sydney Opera House
BEST OF THE PLANET AWARDS: Best of the Planet People's Choice Awards- POINTCAST SNAP: Best Home: Entertainment: Music: Styles of Music: Classical 64. SITE INSPECTOR: Approved
- EYE CANDY: Eye Candy Nominee
- WEBIVORE: Best Site
- OZNET.NET: Concert Master Award for Concert at the Sydney Opera House
- LIBRARYSPOT: Web Sweet Spot
- 4ANYTHING: Editor's Choice
- ABOUT.COM: Best of the Net
- OZNET.NET: Concert Master Award for Concert at the Sydney Opera House
- EXCITE: Four Stars
- THE SMOGASBORD: Featured Web Site
- STARTING PAGE: Starting Page!
- MUSIC SITES DIRECTORY: Editor's Pick
- THE BIG EYE: Award
- HOMEWORK SPOT: Award
- SITES FOR TEACHERS: Award
- LANDMARKS FOR SCHOOLS: Award
- BEST OF THE WEB: Award
EDUCATION WORLD: A+ Reviewed Site- ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN MAGAZINE: Website of the Month
- THE HISTORIC AND CULTURAL HERITAGE AWARD PROGRAM (Russia): Bronze Medal
- INFORMATIVE MUSIC SITE AWARD: Award for Excellence
- YAHBOOKS.COM: Featured!
- THE PHILOSOPHIC WARRIOR: Award for Excellence
- GATEWAY TO EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL: Member
- DMOZ - OPEN DIRECTORY PROJECT: Cool Site
- ACTIVE BASS: Five Star
- ALEXA WEBSEARCH: Average review: Five Star
USA TODAY: Hot Site- WEBBY AWARDS: 2006 Webby Official Honoree
- SCHOOLZONE (UK): Highly Recommended
| Press/Media Contact: |
HWH Public Relations 1414 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212)355-5049 Fax: (212)593-0065 Email: info@hwhpr.com Web: http://www.hwhpr.com/ Contact: Lois Whitman phone: (212)355-5049 Ext 105 |
|---|
Classical Archives showcases the NY Phil celebration of Lorin Maazel's tenure and presents a review of Sony's new release Bach in Havana. (PDF, 24k)
KUHF Houston Public Radio, The Front Row Interview - 26 May 2009 (Link)
Interview Alert - Classical Archives CEO: New online site designed to spur classical music renaissance - 26 May 2009 (PDF, 18k)
The Classical Archives Launches the Ultimate Classical Music Destination - 19 May 2009 (PDF, 19k)
Wall Street Journal - New Ways to Buy Bach Online - 8 May 2009 (Link)
GLAST Prelude - 11 Jun 2008 (PDF, 19k)
Sergei Kondrashev, Conductor, Artist Of The Month - 1 Dec 2005 (PDF, 51k)
Elisso Virsaladze, Piano, Artist Of The Month - 26 Oct 2005 (PDF, 53k)
Andrei Eshpai, Composer, Artist Of The Month - 29 Sep 2005 (PDF, 51k)
Roberto Poli, Piano, Artist Of The Month - 2 Sep 2005 (PDF, 54k)
Classical Archives Selected as Music Resource by the California Learning Resource Network - 16 Aug 2005 (PDF, 52k)
Eduard Grach, Violin, Artist Of The Month - 2 Aug 2005 (PDF, 55k)
Send It - 25 May 2005 (PDF, 52k)
Great Gifts - 19 Apr 2005 (PDF, 106k)
Media Advisory and Press Demo Offer - 25 Mar 2005 (PDF, 24k)
CMA-KQED - 18 Nov 2003 (PDF, 23k)
