Who We Are:

Sacred Black Records is a classical music label, presenting organization and publisher dedicated to connecting audiences with world-class musicians through sound recordings, live performances and publications. Sacred Black was founded in 2024 by guitarist, composer and producer Matthew Cochran. The label’s first releases are guitar duo Cochran & McAllister’s tribute to Carl Sagan titled Pale Blue Dot and pianist Kara Huber’s Piano Works of Joan Tower. Upcoming projects include Stephen Mattingly’s ambitious solo guitar project, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the first installment of the solo instrumental works of Benjamin Britten and Critical Mass, featuring the works of Michigan-based composer Thomas Childs. Sacred Black Records partners with Interlochen Public Radio's Classical IPR to share exclusive content of upcoming projects. Sacred Black Records was founded on the belief that composers, performers and audio engineers play an equal role in the creation of high-quality recorded music. Sacred Black invites world-class composers and performers to imagine their ideal project and collaborates with artists through every step of the process to deliver that project to the listener.

What We Believe:

Classical music is a living art form that is constantly evolving to reflect the world around us.

Classical musicians are highly skilled artists who devote thousands of hours of training and practice to their craft. These artists deserve to be heard and they deserve to be paid.

Classical musicians are often required to navigate a tangled maze of professional intermediaries, all of whom seem intent on separating creatives from any income their creation generates. Sacred Black Records shares expenses and profits from all products and services in a 50/50 split between the organization and the artists the organization supports. Sacred Black is in the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) organization and we hope to be able to accept your generous, tax-deductible donation very soon! 

All Are Welcome:

Sacred Black shows are welcoming, come-as-you-are events. We want you to enjoy the experience of live music as much as we do. Feel free to engage with the music before the show by checking out our playlists and artist features. Sacred Black artists enjoy talking about what they do, so stick around after the show, hang out, ask questions and share your insights with our team. Wear whatever makes you comfortable. Our team sticks to a business casual vibe at shows, but you’re welcome to show up in shorts and a t-shirt or tails and an evening gown if that’s your thing.

Classical music is a clunky term we use to describe a type of music-making that generally features specialized performance skills and compositional methods. It's an enormous genre of music encompassing over a thousand years of innovations and experimentation. If you're new to the art form, we invite you to jump in and start listening! We’ll help you go as deep as you want to go into this world with listening recommendations, historical contextualization, and score study, but we’re equally excited to share what we love with anyone who is just a little curious about this art form. First-timer to one of our events? Let our team know and we’ll hook you up with a welcome packet!

Performing classical music requires a lot of concentration, so our shows are generally quiet, but feel free to show your appreciation with applause or even let out a “woohoo” after the performer does something that seems superhuman (seriously, Brahms and Mozart won’t mind)!

Most of our events are kid-friendly, but some shows are a bit more adult-themed, so use your best judgement and feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

What's With the Name?

The very first record released on the Sacred Black label was Cochran & McAllister's Pale Blue Dot. That project was profoundly influenced by the writings of astronomer, planetary scientist and scientific advocate Carl Sagan, who described the black of space as "sacred." Sagan argued that understanding the tiny planet live on, its unremarkable place in the solar system around which we orbit, contained within the insignificant galaxy we occupy, existing in the corner of the particular universe we inhabit is, in fact, a noble pursuit: 

"It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works--that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it." -Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot 

Likewise, Sacred Black Records believes that it does no harm to the romance of art to know a little bit about how it's made, and to support the art of music, and its creators, whenever and however we can.