Robert Hurwitz

{{infobox officeholder

| name = Robert Hurwitz

| birth_date= {{birth year and age|1949}}

| education = University of California, Berkeley

| occupation = Music Executive

| office = President of Nonesuch Records

| term_start = 1984

| term_end = 2017

}}

Robert Hurwitz (born 1949) was president of Nonesuch Records from 1984 to 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/about#today|title=Nonesuch Records About Nonesuch Records|website=Nonesuch Records Official Website|language=en|access-date=2017-04-15}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/magazine/03NONESUCH.html?pagewanted=3|title=The Industry Standard|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 October 2004|last1=Shorto|first1=Russell}}{{Cite web|url=http://gawker.com/551328/robert-hurwitz|title=Robert Hurwitz}} He was named Chairman Emeritus of Nonesuch Records in January 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/nonesuch-records-longtime-president-bob-hurwitz-announces-plan-leadership-transition-2015-09-29|title=Nonesuch Records' Longtime President Bob Hurwitz Announces Plan for Leadership Transition|website=Nonesuch Records Official Website|language=en|access-date=2018-10-24}} He previously ran the American operations of ECM Records,{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/01/29/070129crmu_music_frerejones|title=Cool Heat|magazine=The New Yorker|date=22 January 2007}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/about#change|title=Nonesuch Records About Nonesuch Records}} after beginning his career at Columbia Records. Hurwitz grew up in Los Angeles, where he was trained as a pianist and graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1967, then went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/magazine/03NONESUCH.html?pagewanted=2|title=The Industry Standard|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 October 2004|last1=Shorto|first1=Russell}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.classmates.com/people/RobertHurwitz/7618718530|title=Nonesuch Records About Nonesuch Records|website=Classmates|language=en|access-date=2018-10-24}}

Founded as a classical label in 1964,Holzman, Jac and Gavan Daws (1998).‘’Follow the Music’’, p. 100. FirstMedia Books. Nonesuch expanded into the world music field in 1967 with its Explorer series.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/74382/nonesuch-explorer-series-africa|title = Nonesuch Explorer Series: Africa|magazine = Billboard|date = 7 September 2002}} Since Hurwitz became head of the company, it has further expanded its mission to include artists from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, musical theater, folk, bluegrass, and rock.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/about|title = Nonesuch Records About Nonesuch Records}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/magazine/03NONESUCH.html|title = The Industry Standard|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 3 October 2004|last1 = Shorto|first1 = Russell}}

Among the artists he has signed or worked with are composers including John Adams, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Henryk Górecki, Philip Glass, Ástor Piazzolla, Steve Reich, Stephen Sondheim, and John Zorn as well as performers and songwriters including Björk, Jeremy Denk, Bill Frisell, Richard Goode, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Kronos Quartet, Gidon Kremer, k.d. lang, Audra McDonald, Fred Hersch,{{cite book |last1=Hersch |first1=Fred |title=Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz |date=12 September 2017 |publisher=Crown Archetype |isbn=978-1101904343}} Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Punch Brothers, Randy Newman, Joshua Redman, Fernando Otero,{{cite news|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/fernando-otero|title=About Fernando Otero|work=Nonesuch Records|author=Michael Hill|accessdate=2013-05-13}} Chris Thile, Dawn Upshaw, and Caetano Veloso. During this time, the label’s artist roster has grown to also include Laurie Anderson, The Black Keys, Buena Vista Social Club, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, and Wilco, among many others.

Hurwitz has produced recordings by Caetano Veloso,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/caetano-veloso|title=Nonesuch Records Caetano Veloso}} Stephen Sondheim,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/bounce|title = Nonesuch Records Bounce}} Astor Piazzolla,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/concierto-para-bandoneon-tres-tangos|title = Nonesuch Records Concierto Para Bandoneon / Tres Tangos}} and Teresa Stratas,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/stratas-sings-weill|title = Nonesuch Records Stratas Sings Weill}} and was the producer of the 1993 film George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107719/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast|title = The Nutcracker (1993) - IMDb|website = IMDb}} Nonesuch releases have won 42 Grammy Awards during his tenure.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/about#grammys|title = Nonesuch Records About Nonesuch Records}}

Robert Hurwitz has taught a course at The New School in New York City since 2006.http://www.newschool.edu/lang/academics.aspx?id=24558 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}

In a July 1998 article on Hurwitz and Nonesuch Records, the Boston Globe’s Ed Siegel wrote: “Under Robert Hurwitz, Nonesuch Records has been an oasis of artistic excitement. When one picks up a Nonesuch CD, there is a sense of occasion, the feeling that the artists in question have been assembled not as an exercise in star power, but as an exercise in artistic exploration.”https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/31964536.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+12%2C+1998&author=Ed+Siegel%2C+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe&edition=&startpage=N.1&desc=Nonesuch+lives+up+to+its+name {{Dead link|date=March 2022}}

An October 2004 New York Times Magazine profile written by Russell Shorto states: “In a business now largely run by accountants and M.B.A.’s, Hurwitz is, in the words of Stephen Sondheim, ‘one of the few left who practice the making of records as a craft.’”