News and Updates

	Romance of the Violin The "Romance of the Violin" SonyBMG Masteroworks disc featuring Joshua Bell and The Academy of St. Martin In The Fields, arranged and produced by Craig, has appeared in the Billboard top selling classical albums for the second year running. It was number 1 in 2004 and has logged in at number 5 for 2005.
	As good as live performance..? An excerpt of Craig's recent London Symphony Orchestra /Simone Pittau recording of his orchestral transcription of Charles Tomlinson Griffes "Roman Sketches" has been included in B&W Loudspeakers' new DVD " A Sound Experience" which launches the new generation of 800 series loudspeakers. The DVD will be shown at B&W dealer's shops worldwide. Other musical participants on the DVD include Alfred Brendel, Peter Gabriel, Dave Stewart, Jan Garbarek and Cassandra Wilson. Find out more about B&W and the new 800 series."
	Boosey & Hawkes Signing We're pleased to announce that Craig has signed a long-term exclusive publishing agreement with Boosey & Hawkes. The new contract covers the pieces on the Sir james Galway "Wings of Song" project and all future works including live performance, recording, film and TV. Please visit Boosey & Hawkes for more information and for all enquiries about sheet music and orchestral rental scores for Craig's music.
	Top Classical Albums On the Billboard U.S. Year End 2004 Top Classical Albums chart, violinist Joshua Bell's album "Romance of the Violin" (Sony Classical),arranged, orchestrated and co produced by Craig is No. 1, and Bell leads the Top Classical Artists recap as well. Also, in 2004 The Deutsche Grammophon disc "Wings of Song" by James Galway and The London Symphony Orchestra, which was also arranged, orchestrated and produced by Craig, spent six weeks at no 1 on the UK Classical charts during September and October.
	Congratulations... to Sir James Galway. The "Wings of Song" CD has jumped up to number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart this week after spending five weeks at number 1 in the Music Week UK Classical Chart. The Deutsche Grammaphon album and the Sony Classical disc "Romance of the Violin" by Joshua Bell are both residing in the top 10 this week. Joshua's album has been in the top of the chart for one year straight, having spent a considerable time at number 1 earlier this year. Both discs are produced, orchestrated and arranged by Craig.
	"Wings of Song" Sir James Galway's "Wings of Song" CD on Deutsche Grammaphon, produced and arranged by Craig remained at number 1 in the UK's Music Week classical chart for the two weeks in October 2004. It also entered the US Billboard Classical Chart at no. 6 in its first week of release joining Joshua Bell's former U.S. no. 1 "Romance of the Violin" Sony disc in this week's top 10. Both albums were produced, orchestrated and arranged by Craig. "Wings of Song" was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. It contains 14 transcriptions by Craig for flute and orchestra of classical and traditional folk music that has never been recorded by Sir James before.
	Roman Sketches premiere... Craig's orchestration of the of the first complete orchestral version of Charles Tomlinson Griffes' "Roman Sketches" premieres 27 March in New York with Ilan Volkov conducting the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The piece has been recently recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and will be released on CD later this year. The completion of the orchestration of these piano pieces has been a long time goal of Craig's. See more information on one of America's greatest composers of the 20th century, Charles Tomlinson Griffes..
	Congratulations to JB... Joshua Bell's current Sony release,"Romance of the Violin", which was co-produced and arranged by Craig, has now been at number 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart in the U.S. for 11 weeks. (26th March 2004) The "Romance of the Violin" CD was also top 5 in overall sellers (including pop) on Amazon.com during the week 9th Jan '04. Taipei Times comments on the fact that Romance of the Violin is the first classical CD to hit the Billboard pop chart in the past 20 years.
	Blondie book ... A new book documenting Blondie, called "Blondie, From Punk to the Present: A Pictorial History" is the first in many years is now available 'at all good bookstores' including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Read more about the book on the Blondie Book website
	In at two... Joshua Bell's "Romance of the Violin" CD,which was arranged and co-produced by Craig, has entered the U.S. Billboard Top Classical Charts(15 Nov.) at number 2.
	"Harpistry" on Classic FM... ...29 September 2003...Julia Thornton's "Harpistry" CD on EMI,produced and arranged by Craig, has been released in the UK and is the CD of the Week on Classic Fm Radio this week. You can listen to a different track from Julia's new CD every morning around 11 on Classic Fm in the U.K. and on the net. Julia's upcoming UK and European tour dates can be found on her website which also has been updated to include some rare audio downloads that aren't on the CD.
	Download... ...yes, at last we have started to upload for your listening pleasure a few excerpts from Craig's work – videos and more snippets will be coming soon
	The Gallery ...has also had a few new images added so take a look here and let us know what you think.
	Julia Thorton's debut... ...album for EMI, "Harpistry" has completed recording and will be released in September, 2003 in the UK. Other territories around the world to follow. Make sure that you catch Julia on the current Roxy Music summer tour including a performance in Hyde Park, London 16 July. To hear an excerpt from the track "The Sunken Cathedral" by Claude Debussy, orchestrated by Craig which features on the CD click here to visit the download area.
	"Romance of the Violin"... ...by Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin In The Fields Orchestra,co-produced and arranged by Craig will be released 28 October in the U.S. and 4 November in the rest of the world on Sony Classical.
	Izzy Compilation A compilation of Izzy's two UK EMI albums will be released under the title "Izzy" released on Manhattan Records in the U.S. on 2nd September. Check out Izzy's website for tour dates and promotional appearances in the U.S. and the Far East later this year. Also see this recent review.
	On the film front... Craig and Izzy's track or "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from the "Ascolta" album has been featured in the new film "It's All About Love", directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Claire Danes, Joaquin Phoenix, and Sean Penn. The film is released in Europe over this summer. Coming soon will be an excerpt of the video of "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from the "Ascolta" album.
	Ghost River (La vie Promise) Craig's arrangement of "Wayfaring Stranger", performed by Andreas Scholl and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is featured in the current French film release "Ghost River",directed by Olivier Dahan, starring Isabelle Huppert.
	New material from Cassell Currently Craig is completing the new album by Cassell Webb for release later this year. We will have an excerpt of of "River Run" from the album "Conversations at Dawn" posted in the download area.
	The Curse of Blondie Check out Blondie.net for information on the release of the new Blondie album ("The Curse of Blondie") and world tour dates.
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