How do you make 15 years feel like a minute? Simple. Do what you love, and do it well. You’ll be surprised at how fast the time flies.
On May 5, 2008, PARMA Recordings set forth on its journey to bring cutting-edge classical music to listeners around the world. Specializing in high quality audio production, website design and development, social media promotion, digital advertising, and multimedia creation, the team has worked with a diverse roster of creative types across four record labels with the goal of making compelling music and media in an innovative, engaging, and entertaining way.
From our very first release, PHOENIX IN FLIGHT, with two-time GRAMMY Award winner Richard Stoltzman, to our initial splash into Cuba with ABRAZO, PARMA has produced over 1,000 albums during its tenure, presenting Grammy award-winning music that has been featured in settings and situations from CBS to Carnegie Hall, Microsoft to the Musikverein, Nintendo to National Geographic, at the top of the Billboard charts, and beyond.
We could go on to tell the story of our inception, trajectory, and our continued commitments, but our CEO Bob Lord tells it best in this story:
Grammy Awards
It’s an honor to see our work presented on stages across the world. To see them reach the stage at the annual Grammy award ceremony is truly surreal.
In April 2022, SOUNDTRACK OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER from Navona Records and The United States Army Field Band received a Grammy award for “Best Immersive Audio Album” following its November 2021 nomination. The Grammy win is the first for the United States Army Field Band, and the album marks the first of many immersive audio albums to be released by PARMA.
Just seven months after the 2022 ceremony, the Recording Academy released the full list of nominations for the 65th annual GRAMMY® awards, in which two albums and one digital single from Navona Records were nominated across three different categories. On February 6, 2023, The Crossing took home a Grammy award for “Best Choral Performance” for their 2022 Navona Records release, BORN: THE MUSIC OF EDIE HILL AND MICHAEL GILBERTSON.
Learn more about the Grammy award-winning albums here:
1,000 Albums Released
From countless recording sessions with ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the United States Army Field Band to groundbreaking collaborations with Pete Townshend of The Who, The Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown, and more. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that producing an album is no small feat. Countless hours of recording, designing, planning, promotion, and above all, passion are required. Do that 1,000 times and some may call you crazy. We call it dedication.
In 2022, PARMA released AMPLIFY, the first installment in All Classical Portland’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative (RII) series, which marked the 1,000th album release from PARMA’s family of labels. The RII album is a response to the industry’s long time need for greater diversity, with the purpose of increasing awareness and opportunity for previously marginalized artistic communities.
15 years in the studio is bound to produce some memorable moments. Between working with award winning artists like CeCe Winans, John Wineglass, Lewis Spratlan, Richard Galliano, and world renowned ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and more, there’s never been a dull moment in the PARMA production world. See the full list of production recaps below.
From Studio to Stage
High quality audio production may be one of the preferred ways to consume music in the modern day, but nothing beats the thrill of a resounding live performance. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing many PARMA artists take their talents to the stage over the years, and each show has been nothing short of spectacular. Whether it’s a concert at Carnegie Hall or the world premiere of Dan Brown’s Wild Symphony, we love to see music created in real time.
Live music was seemingly at a standstill when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, but the subsequent outpouring of artist expression that followed the lockdown was felt by us all. In response to the sudden halt of operations, we debuted the PARMA Live Stage, a digital concert venue that gave artists an outlet to share their music in a safe and exciting way. See the full archive of live stage performances here:
A Taste of What’s To Come
Bringing exceptional and exciting new music to light is the core of what we do. It’s an honor to record and release the captivating works of our artists each week, and the recent developments in the world premiere recordings of works by Leonard Bernstein and Chick Corea are no exception.
Leonard Bernstein’s recently uncovered Music for String Quartet has received its premiere studio recording and is scheduled to release in September 2023, with a newly discovered second movement, as yet unheard publicly, to be included on the program.
Learn the story of its rediscovery, and the exclusive details on the recording process.
Most recently came the announcement of Chick Corea’s Concerto for Trombone, which received its debut studio recording in Las Vegas NV in early April 2023. Brought to life by trombonist Joseph Alessi and the University of Nevada Las Vegas Wind Orchestra, the final completed classical work of the late music legend will be released on Navona Records later this year.
Even with 15 years in the books, we know there’s more to discover, music to produce, and artistry to celebrate. Saying “the job is never complete” may sound hopeless, but to us it isn’t a job. It’s a way of life.
Our mission remains the same: produce great music, elevate deserving talent, and present it to the world. Here’s to all of the creative types who’ve shared this journey with us. May the next 15 years bring equal and even greater moments of music and cause for celebration.
