“There is one thing Andrea still hasn’t achieved in his career, and that is a #1 Billboard album. Can you do that?” This was the challenge issued to me as the President of Decca Records and not an easy challenge to embrace, but embrace it I did. Harnessing the imagination of my team, the global marketing heft of UMG and some focused commercial principles, we achieved the near-impossible. Bocelli’s #1 Billboard Album was the first classical album in that slot for nearly 30 years. 

A Piano Concerto, written for Yuja Wang by Teddy Abrams, rescheduled twice due to Covid, ferociously difficult to play and yet, we had the foresight to plan to record it live at the world premiere.  The performances were breathtaking and when we heard the master, we realized we had something very special on our hands. Leading a non-traditional awareness campaign, burnished with the reputation of Deutsche Grammophon and the fearless attitude of Teddy and the LO, we prevailed with an unexpected Grammy Win in 2024!

Deploying an orchestra to address a significant economic and social in-balance, the Urban-Rural Divide in Kentucky is a big idea and without precedent. Add to that, asking the Republican leaders of the Kentucky Senate and House for significant budget support, is also without precedent. Yet, that is what was required, what we did and most importantly, achieved.  $12M raised in 6 years. Over 40 performances. Every corner of Kentucky served. Appearances from YoYo Ma, Chris Thile, Michael Cleveland.

Creating a performance experience inside Kentucky’s Mammoth Caves with Yo-Yo Ma and the Louisville Orchestra, resulting in the most daring collaboration involving the National Parks Service, Yo-Yo Ma, Teddy Abrams, orchestra, choir, soloists and a documentary film crew.

Deploying live and unexpected performances of Sleep, Max Richter’s eight-hour, over-night performed work at SXSW, NYC and outdoors in downtown LA, and growing his yearly revenue by 300% and transforming him into the #1 streamed classical artist in the world.

When you are responsible for the largest classical music megaphone in the USA, you must think big and ask yourself, “how can I put this megaphone to the greatest impact possible?”  The answer was the WQXR Instrument Drive.  Collecting 5000 previously loved instruments, repairing them and then giving them to New York City public schools, so that over 50,000 students have working instruments - that was how the megaphone made a generational difference.  The icing on the cake - an Oscar Nomination for “Joe’s Violin”, a documentary which told the story of one donor and one recipient.