Verve Label Group has announced the promotion of Joseph Oerke to executive vice president, Decca Records US.
Oerke, who’s been with the company for nearly 16 years, will lead the marketing and artist strategy for Decca Records US, the No.1 classical label in the United States.
Decca Records US is also the American partner for European sister labels Decca Records, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Mercury KX and distributed label ECM. The Decca US roster includes Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Yuja Wang, Andrea Bocelli, Yannick Nézet- Séguin, Keith Jarrett, Renée Fleming and Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
In the artist-composer space, Decca Records US represents established and up and coming artists including Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Joe Hisaishi, Chad Lawson, Cody Fry, Yiruma and Gabríel Ólafs.
Oerke has helped nurture a new generation of classical artists that include Víkingur Ólafsson, Yunchan Lim and Lise Davidsen.
Dickon Stainer, president and CEO of Verve Label Group and Global Classics & Jazz, UMG, said: “Joseph is propelling Decca US into a new era as the leading classical record company in America. With his boundless experience and formidable team-building skills Joseph is perfectly positioned to serve the finest classical artists of the world, and their passionate US audiences.”
Joseph Oerke said: “I love classical music. In fact, I moved to New York to study oboe and got my first job in the gift shop at the Metropolitan Opera. I think that everyone can find at least one piece of classical music that stirs emotions and part of my job is to bring this music to more people. Leading this storied label is a dream for me and I could not be more excited to work with our amazing team.”
According to Luminate, last year Decca Records US led the US classical charts week after week, on average accounting for 47% of the classical albums chart based on consumption.
The label also set the modern-era single-week US sales record for a classical album on vinyl with Joe Hisaishi’s A Symphonic Celebration: Music From The Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki (Deutsche Grammophon).
In March 2023, Decca Records US had nine of the top 10 songs on the classical US on-demand audio streaming songs chart.
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