Warner/Chappell Music Extends Agreement With Sondheim

Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE:WMG), today announced an extension of its long-term worldwide publishing agreement with musical theater, film and television composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Originally signed to Warner/Chappell Music in 1992, the Company will continue publishing the majority of Sondheim's catalog of award-winning work, which spans more than 50 years, as well as his future compositions.

Over the course of his career, Sondheim's musical compositions have won numerous prestigious awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Sunday in the Park with George, an Academy Award for "Best Original Song" for "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" from the major motion picture Dick Tracy, nine Tony Awards, including a 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as seven Grammys and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. Additionally, in 1993, Sondheim was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

In making the announcement, Dave Johnson, CEO of Warner/Chappell Music, said, "Stephen Sondheim is one of the greatest living composer-lyricists. Over the course of his fifty-year career, he has composed scores for some of the best loved musicals and has had a profound influence on the course of American theater. We are honored to continue working with an artist of his caliber with such a legendary catalog of work."

Sean Patrick Flahaven, Vice President of Theater and Standards Repertoire, added, "Warner/Chappell has its foundations in theater music and Sondheim is at the pinnacle of the genre. No other composer-lyricist working in theater can match Sondheim's variety, scope and consistency, and it's our privilege to work with him in bringing his music to ever wider audiences."

Sondheim added, "I am happy to continue my long-standing relationship with Warner/Chappell Music, and I look forward to an active and mutually rewarding future."

A prolific composer and lyricist, Sondheim has written scores for nearly two dozen musicals, including those published by Warner/Chappell Music: Saturday Night (1954); West Side Story (1957); Gypsy (1959); A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum (1962); Anyone Can Whistle (1964); Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965); A Little Night Music (1973); The Frogs (1974, revised 2004); Pacific Overtures (1976); Sweeney Todd (1979); Merrily We Roll Along (1981, revised 1993); Sunday in the Park with George (1984); Into the Woods (1987); Assassins (1990), Passion (1994), and Bounce (2003).

In addition to musical theater, Sondheim has also composed scores for the films Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981), in addition to the music for Dick Tracy (1990). Sondheim also wrote songs for the television production, "Evening Primrose" (1966) and co-authored the film, The Last of Sheila (1973) and the play Getting Away With Murder (1996).  The film adaptation of Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, premiered in December 2007 to critical acclaim and won the Golden Globe Award for "Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)."

From 1973 to 1981, Sondheim served as president of the Dramatists Guild, the national association of playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and since then has served on its council. In 1983, Sondheim was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2006 won its Gold Medal for Music.  In 1990, he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University.

Sondheim's most recent show, Bounce, will make its long-awaited New York premiere off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in the Fall of 2008.
 
About Warner/Chappell Music

Warner/Chappell Music is WMG's award-winning global music publishing company. The Warner/Chappell Music catalog included standards such as "Happy Birthday To You," "Rhapsody in Blue," "Winter Wonderland," the songs of Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin, as well as the music of Dido, Dr. Dre, Eric Clapton, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Nickelback, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sheryl Crow, T.I. and others. Warner/Chappell Music is a leader in creating innovative strategies for marketing and promoting its songwriters and their music. The company's extensive catalog makes it a natural first stop for A&R executives and record producers, feature film and television production companies, and others looking to record or license some of the world's greatest music.

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna