Ettore Stratta

Italian conductor, pianist, composer and record producer.
Married to Pat Philips (1998).

Born: March 30, 1933 in Cuneo, Italy.
Died: July 9, 2015 in Manhattan, New York.

He moved to US in 1959 and got a job at a Columbia Records pressing plant on Long Island. He move up through the ranks and in 1963 was appointed A&R executive of the label's international artists. After leaving this position to pursue a career as a conductor and producer, he collaborated with many artists including Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, Lena Horne and Dave Brubeck. During the 1990s, he focused his work on recasting various brands of popular music in symphonic-style orchestral arrangements. Sometimes that meant dabbling in Latin American music (as with Symphonic Boleros, Symphonic Tango, and Symphonic Bossa Nova) and sometimes that meant choosing compatible standards from the jazz and pop worlds to create records with consistent moods (as with A Sentimental Journey and 2000's As Time Goes By: Great Love Songs of the 20th Century). He's also done more specific collections, including a tribute to sci-fi film soundtracks (Music From the Galaxies) and, oddly enough, to Elvis Presley (Symphonic Elvis, recorded -- of course -- with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra). Stratta has recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Fantasy Strings, among other groups.