San Francisco Conservatory buys record label

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is buying a record label following its acquisition of a management agency.

The school said Monday it had bought Pentatone Music, adding to a portfolio that includes Opus 3 Artists, which it purchased in October 2020.

“Bringing Pentatone in–house creates an extraordinary backdrop to explore new ideas for performing, recording and distributing music,” conservatory president David Stull said in a statement.

Pentatone is based Baarn, Netherlands, and will have access to the conservatory’s recording studio in San Francisco. The label will record a performance of the National Brass Ensemble, of which Stull is executive director. The conservatory announced later Monday that San Francisco Opera music director Eun Sun Kim was replacing San Francisco Symphony music director Esa-Pekka Salonen as conductor.

Large classical labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Sony have sharply curtailed new classical recordings in recent decades.