Imagem Music Group, the parent company of the publisher Boosey & Hawkes, is acquiring the joint copyrights of songs and musicals of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The acquisition includes the Manhattan-based Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which owns rights to musicals including Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music; as a licensing agent RHO represents more than 12,000 songs, 900 concert works, 200 writers, and 100 musicals, including Cats, Evita, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The existing management team, led by RHO’s president and executive director, Theodore S. Chapin, will be retained. In a statement, Boosey & Hawkes Director of Composers and Repertoire Zizi Mueller, said, “From our own Boosey & Hawkes point of view, RHO will be a sister company that has several aspects in common with our own culture and operations, such as the hire library and licensing as well as a wonderfully dedicated team of people whose passion for musical theatre and the great American songbook mirrors our own for classical and jazz. It goes without saying that we will continue to maintain our commitment to publish the finest classical music.”
Posted April 24, 2009
