logo
about sanctus
the catalogue
the artists
the composers
online shop
forum
other outlets
related links
contact us

Enter your e-mail address and enjoy the privileges of a SanCtuS mailing list member.


  • As a SanCtuS mailing list member you will receive the new articles from our Forum page as well as information about new releases.


  • Your thoughts are important to us

  • Site Assistance


  • SanCtuS Recordings was founded in 1995. Its primary objective is to create high quality recordings of significant music. In an age of overwhelming availability of new titles, SanCtuS directs its efforts to only produce recordings which meaningfully contribute to the legacy of recorded music. The SanCtuS catalogue strives to grow at a pace which allows to maintain these standards and to carefully mould a name associated with excellence.

    SanCtuS Recordings produces two different lines. The first is directed towards recovering important recordings of the past which have been neglected for unaccounted reasons but are too precious to be allowed to disappear. The other line concentrates on bringing outstanding contemporary musicians to the recording hall where they can create and reveal with new insight their interpretation of important music which has also either been neglected or which is in need of being presented in a new light.

    More about SanCtuS

    Regarding the historic line, SanCtuS Recordings has already released unique musical documents, one of which is a CD with the only existing recordings of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos playing his own compositions on the guitar, the piano, accompanying a soprano and even delivering a speech on culture. All historic releases in the catalogue present recordings that are unique and no effort is spared to revive this material with the utmost care regarding quality of sound and presentation. Among the precious selections available are rare recordings of Elena Gerhardt, Povla Frijsh, Lotte Lehmann, Elsie Houston, Maria Kurenko, Dame Maggie Teyte, Eleanor Steber and Miliza Korjus, just to mention a few.

    From the very start of its line of new recordings, SanCtuS achieved with its second release (a world premiere recording which brought to life the music of the 18th century Italian composer/cellist virtuoso, Carlo Graziani), recognition from FANFARE, when its 2-CD album was selected by Michael Jameson as one of the five outstanding issues of 1996. Another recent success was the release of Schumann's Humoreske, op.21, and Novelletten, op.21, with Nikolai Demidenko. Fanfare's reviewer, Susan Kagan, wrote: "...of the several versions available on CD, I find none that surpasses Demidenko in Schumannesque expression and technique".

    SanCtuS Recordings has already earned the respect and received praise from critics around the world. Its releases have received from Classic Express and Gramophone in England, Opera News and Fanfare in the USA, Early Music News in Australia, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) in Switzerland and Classic CD in the UK and Brazil. SanCtuS Recordings takes meticulous care with the quality and presentation of its products. Sleeve-notes have original and informative texts mostly written by authorities on the recorded repertory. Sound transfers are made with state-of-the-art technology and production is entrusted to a manufacturer of international repute. Booklets appear in at least four languages and the art-work is painstakingly researched.

    SanCtuS Recordings will continue to surprise the music-loving public with a unique selection of repertory and high-quality interpretations. Among the next scheduled releases are recordings with Nikolai Demidenko, Rafael Puyana, the Dumka Choir, and English Serenade with Roger Birnstingl playing the bassoon, and many others.

    The name SanCtuS is a natural association with the patron saint of musicians, Santa Cacilia. Her most beautiful visual representation (an etching by the Italian Renaissance artist Marcantonio Raimondi, based on the painting by Rafael, in the Galeria Nationale in Bologna) has been adopted as the company's logo. In the etching, Santa Cacilia (the patroness of musici