Phaedra is an Ancient Greek name meaning ‘the beautiful, the bright, the shiny one’. It is related to a verb that means ‘to shine light on’. That is why we thought Phaedra an appropriate name for a label that meant proposed to assume a special task: to shine a light on music by composers from the Low Countries, especially from Flanders and Wallonia, and thus to save them from indifference and oblivion.
The idea was realized in 1992, when Phaedra was founded. With its limited means, but with a generous heart, Phaedra was to promote this music, to record it and to publish it. Moreover, Phaedra intended to work with young and highly talented musicians, both from the Low Countries and from abroad.
Phaedra is the first label to consistently and continually draw attention to composers of the Low Countries, regardless of their philosophies or their careers. First their works are read, studied and evaluated; then Phaedra searches out talented musicians who might be interested in studying and recording these works.
