Erato Records


Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Disques Erato by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Boston, and he made Erato's first recording, in January 1953 Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum with Les Jeunesses Muslcales.
Michel Garcin became the label's artistic director and producer and built up the catalogue with contemporary French composers such as Henri Dutilleux and French artists: Jean-François Paillard, Marie-Claire Alain, Maurice André, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Lily Laskine.

Notable recordings

Erato released first recordings of
Erato was distributed in the US on the RCA Red Seal label for many years. In 1992, Erato was acquired by Warner Music. In 1999, Erato launched a subsidiary named Detour Records. A large prestige project, the Koopman Bach cantatas project, was canceled mid-way after Warner also acquired Teldec in 1998, although the Dutch conductor was able to buy back his recordings and finish the project on his own label. In 2001, Warner closed Erato.

Revival with Virgin Classics catalogue

In 2013, the label was revived with WEA’s acquisition of EMI Classics and Virgin Classics, which became part of Warner Classics. Erato absorbed the Virgin Classics artists roster and catalogue but not the rights to the EMI or Virgin names. In October 2013 several of Virgin Classics key artists—Alexandre Tharaud, Natalie Dessay, Diana Damrau, Renaud Capuçon, and Philippe Jaroussky—appeared on new Erato titles that had already been in production by Virgin Classics/EMI.