Robert Hurwitz

Who is Robert Hurwitz?

Robert Hurwitz has been president of Nonesuch Records since 1984. He previously ran the American operations of ECM Records, after beginning his career at Columbia Records. Hurwitz grew up in Los Angeles, where he was trained as a pianist, then went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley.

Founded as a classical label in 1964, Nonesuch expanded into the world music field in 1967 with its Explorer series. 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.

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, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Punch Brothers, Randy Newman, Joshua Redman, 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.