Joseph Dalton Photo by Dorothy Alexander, courtesy Composers Recordings Inc.

Joseph Dalton Steps Down as Director of Composers Recordings, Inc.

Joseph Dalton recently announced that after over ten years he is stepping down from his post as Executive Director of Composers Recordings, Inc. at the end of May. During his time at CRI, Dalton took the label in new directions with the "Emergency Music" and "eXchange" collections, while maintaining a commitment to many of America's greatest composers with the "American Masters" series. With these three lines, CRI has released a widely diverse range of music, from Roger Sessions and Henry Brant to Randall Woolf and Judy Dunaway.

Dalton also doubled the size of CRI's release schedule to more than thirty compact discs per year, and he established a new domestic distribution agreement with Koch International. He coordinated special events for CRI, including celebrations of the label's Fortieth Anniversary, and he produced the successful cross-over collection "Gay American Composers", as well as the Grammy nominated Latin American collection "Voces Americanas". Dalton also programmed and produced more than 100 compact disc reissues of historic analog recordings, including the critically acclaimed "Ives Plays Ives" recording. Recently, CRI joined the Otto Luening Trust in celebrating the centennial of Luening's birth with two new recordings, a commission, and a concert.

Dalton commented: "It has been an honor to work with so many talented composers and musicians on more than 300 compact discs." Without singling out favorite projects, Dalton said that he was particularly proud of CRI's association with the Juilliard String Quartet, the Bang of a Can Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, as well as the collections of gay and lesbian composers, and CRI's two Grammy nominations.

Dalton continues: "But perhaps even greater personal satisfaction came when I was able to get the works of an almost-forgotten composer on CD for the first time, and every time I helped a younger artist create a top-notch debut recording."

Indeed, it is this equal commitment to the music of the past as well as the most cutting-edge music of today, regardless of market pressures, that has made the work of CRI a vital part of the new music community.

Prior to CRI, Dalton worked with the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and as a business manager for Rock Music Promotions in Dallas, Texas. He is a Voting Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and a Founding Member of the AIDS Music Emergency Network. From 1988-91 he served as a Contributing Editor and as a member of the Board of Directors of EAR Magazine.