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An impresario, whose tapes were rejected by major companies, began his own label devoted to Canadian artists
INDEPENDENT CLASSICAL MUSIC record label Analekta was, according to its founder, François Mario Labbé, started by accident. "In 1987 I was an impresario and presenting close to 300 shows a year in major theaters across Canada," he says. "I was the one who brought the Kirov Ballet, the Red Army Chorus, and the Moscow Philharmonic to Canada, and artists such as Kiri Te Kanawa and José van Dam. I had a young violinist named Angèle Dubeau who was a big star here." Labbé approached a major record label to get a recording contract for Dubeau and was told by the president, "We are not signing any more regional artists." Labbé says, "He really meant that if you are not from New York or Paris, forget it. I said, 'To hell with this,' and told Angèle, who was ready to go into the studio, that I would record it myself and license it to somebody else." That's how the first Analekta recording was made. (Also, it was the beginning of a lifelong partnership; Labbé later married Dubeau.)
Labbé confronted the major-label myopia by doing other recording projects. "I had the Red Army Chorus on tour, so I recorded them in the new digital suite in Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre. I also had the rights to the music from the movie The...