New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Decca Records has celebrated its 90th anniversary in China with a special event at the
National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing. Organised by Decca, Universal
Music China and NCPA, the Decca 90 event brought together two artists from the London-based label, guitarist MILOŠ and saxophonist Jess Gillam, alongside a brand new signing: Super Vocal - China's first male bel canto group.
Since its formation on 28 February 1929, Decca has burgeoned from a prosperous British company to a fully-fledged international powerhouse, home to countless legendary musicians. The label's history touches on every aspect of modern music, both pop and classical: from the beginnings of sound recording, via Bing Crosby, Dame Vera Lynn, The Rolling Stones,
David Bowie,
Luciano Pavarotti and The Three Tenors, to today's chart-topping superstars such as
Andrea Bocelli, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Sir Rod Stewart,
Ludovico Einaudi and The Lumineers, to name but a few.
Rebecca Allen, President of Decca Records, commented: "Our thanks go to Sunny Chang, the Greater China team and Garand Wu at Universal
Music China for creating such a special event to celebrate Decca's 90th anniversary. Their continued support of our artists is something truly special and we hugely value the relationship we have with our Universal family in Greater China. We also want to wish Super Vocal the best of luck with this, their new adventure. We look forward to welcoming them to the UK in the future."
Internationally renowned guitarist MILOŠ was joined in Beijing by a string quintet to perform a selection of emotional tracks from his latest album 'Sound of Silence', including music by
Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles. 21-year-old British saxophonist Jess Gillam played music from her debut recording, 'RISE', including Milhaud's Brazileira, Iturralde's Pequena Czarda and Where Are We Now? by
David Bowie. After these stunning performances, the audience were treated to an excerpt from the documentary Pavarotti (2019) - the latest film from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard.
Shortly afterwards, Universal
Music China unveiled their latest signing, Super Vocal, in partnership with China's leading entertainment television channel Hunan TV. Super Vocal rose to fame on the show of the same name - a talent competition focused on classically trained singers, singing both operatic and musical pieces. The quartet of exciting new singers in the group are: Cai Chengyu, Tong Zhuo, Gao Tianhe and Ju Hongchuan. They showcased their bel canto power with interpretations of two Pavarotti classics, Nessun Dorma and O sole mio, as well Chinese song Night, Night & Night and Into the Unknown Chinese version from the movie Frozen II. Tenor Cai Chengyu also sang Lift the Wings - a surprise performance from the world premiere of the 'Riverdance 25th Anniversary Asian Special Edition' (available from today).
Garand Wu, Managing
Director of UM China, said: "Universal
Music has always been an incubator for emerging superstars on this planet. A great number of stars joined us at a young age, such as Billie Eilish, Shawn Mendes,
Ariana Grande,
Selena Gomez, IL DIVO, and more. Under the tutelage of Hunan TV, each of the four members of Super Vocal has shown his own feature: the unforgettable golden high pitch of Cai Chengyu, the extraordinary performing talents of Tong Zhuo, the crystalline and high-spirited singing of countertenor Gao Tianhe, and the extreme subtlety of Ju Hongchuan's beautiful voice. We are all very pleased to partner with Hunan TV on Super Vocal and have them in our big Universal
Music family and we look forward to creating more beautiful music hand-in-hand with the group."
Garand Wu, Managing
Director of UM China, Yvonne Yuen, Senior Vice-President of UM Greater China Marketing, Tang Yong, Vice-President of UM China Content Strategy, and Mark Wilkinson, Senior Vice-President of UM Global Classics & Jazz, presented each of the four members of Super Vocal with a copy of Decca: The Supreme Record Company - a luxury book celebrating the label's nine decades of history.
"Hunan TV has developed China's first male bel canto group Super Vocal. Our partnership with Universal Music, particularly in consideration of its tremendous musical resources, will lead the group Super Vocal towards an even wider scene and unfold a brand new chapter not just in China but to the global stage," said Mr. Dian Song, Vice President of Hunan TV.
