Dorle Soria
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Dorle Jarmel Soria (December 14, 1900 – July 7, 2002)Date of birth and death available from the Social Security Death Index. was an American publicist, producer of classical music recordings, and journalist. With her husband Dario Soria, she co-founded Cetra-Soria Records and
Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...
.


Early career, artists' manager

A graduate of
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, she worked as a journalist before the concert manager
Arthur Judson Arthur Leon Judson (February 17, 1881 – January 28, 1975) was an artists' manager who also managed the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra and was also the founder of CBS. He co-founded the Handel Society of New York with entrepre ...
hired her to manage publicity for his company (which later became the talent management company
Columbia Artists Management Columbia Artists Management (CAMI) was an international talent management agency. On August 29, 2020, the agency announced plans to shut down amid a disturbance in business caused by the " prolonged pandemic environment". History Based in New Yor ...
). She was press manager and publicist of the
New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
which Judson managed. She played a significant role in establishing the stature of Arturo Toscanini, then the music director, during the orchestra's 1930 European tour. She promoted events such as Leonard Bernstein's 1943 Philharmonic debut and the orchestra's 1951 European tour.David Hamilton, "Dorle Jarmel Soria," ''Opera News'' 67 (Oct. 2002), p. 84. In 1942, she married Dario Soria, who had emigrated to the United States from Italy several years earlier. In 1946, as part of her efforts at promotion at Columbia Artist Management, she co-founded with Nelson Lansdale ''Artist Life'', a magazine intended for managers and other heads of music organizations and agencies. Columbia's board of directors put an end to ''Artist Life'' in the fall of 1949, citing 6,000 readers but a deficit of between $6,000 and $7,000. When Boris Morros asked her opinion on which instrumentalist to include in his forthcoming film '' Carnegie Hall'', Soria suggested the cellist
Gregor Piatigorsky Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist. Biography Early life Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a child, he ...
, not realizing that Morros had been one of Piatigorsky's teachers.


Record producer

In 1948, Dario Soria established the Cetra-Soria label to press and distribute opera recordings from the Italian Cetra label in the United States. Taking advantage of what was available in Italy, the label distributed rarely performed operas in America for the first time. At Soria's insistence, Cetra-Soria releases included both complete Italian librettos and English translations, setting the standard to which fans of recorded opera are now accustomed. In 1953, the Sorias launched
Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...
, producing and distributing acclaimed classical recordings for EMI, its corporate parent. During her time with Angel records, Dorle Soria used her promotional skills to spotlight their roster of artists. She produced opera balls highlighting Maria Callas at her
Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...
and
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
debuts. The high quality of the series was noted, with one critic later describing it as "a classy product all the way." Having produced nearly 500 albums, the Sorias left the company in 1958 after EMI merged it with its American subsidiary, Capitol Records."Dorle Jarmel Soria, 101, Writer And a Founder of Angel Records." ''The New York Times'', Jul. 13, 2002, p. C16.
The Sorias then began producing a "deluxe" series of classical recordings for
RCA Victor Red Seal RCA Red Seal is a classical music label whose origin dates to 1902 and is currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment. History The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.Carnegie Hall concert programs. Never entirely abandoning her journalist training, she wrote for the magazines High Fidelity, Opera News, and
Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. History 1898–19 ...
for which she wrote a monthly column called "Artist Life" (the same name as her short-lived publication of the 1940s). In 1982 she authored a monograph titled ''The Metropolitan Opera: A Guide''. A producer of the MET's "Historic Opera" series, she received an award in 1986 for her work on issuing the 1939 broadcast of
Simon Boccanegra ''Simon Boccanegra'' () is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play ''Simón Bocanegra'' (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, whose play ''El trovador'' had b ...
on
long playing records The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of  rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...
.Is Horowitz, "Keeping Score," ''Billboard'' (Nov. 1, 1986), p. 60. Dorle Soria died in New York City on July 7, 2002, at the age of 101.


References


External links


Dorle Soria papers, 1930-1991
Music Division, The New York Public Library.
Cetra-Soria collection, 1946-1954
Music Division, The New York Public Library.
Correspondence between Dorle Soria and Maria Callas, 1952-1975
Music Division, The New York Public Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Soria, Dorle 1900 births 2002 deaths Record producers from New York (state) Music promoters Talent managers American centenarians 20th-century American women American publicists Marketing women American women record producers Women centenarians 20th-century American people Women music promoters