Music man

Cyrus Meher-Hom-ji’s appointment as general manager, classics and jazz, Universal Music Australia (UMA) was "thoroughly deserved,” commented George Ash, president Universal Music Australasia. Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world’s largest music content company with market leading positions in recorded music, music publishing and merchandizing.
As acknowledged Ash, "In addition to successfully promoting our prestigious international labels, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, Cyrus has worked closely with our key broadcasters and business affiliates, ABC and SBS and was executive producer for the recordings of two outstanding Australian classical artists — Emma Matthews and Rosario La Spina. Under his direction, Universal’s Classical division has enjoyed an ARIA-accredited market share of, on average, 75 percent each week — a remarkable achievement for a classical division of a record company in any country.”
He also earned praise from Costa Pilavachi, senior vice president, Classical A&R, UMGI who describing him as "a great music man,” noted, "I have had the privilege of working with Cyrus for the better part of two decades and first met him through the pages of his magazine Soundscapes (that he launched in 1993) which I still think was the best magazine of its type in the world. Cyrus is uniquely knowledgeable, resourceful, dedicated, tireless, an enthusiastic and immensely successful colleague who has consistently delivered for both our artists and labels.”

Cyrus Meher-Homji (left) receiving award from Zubin Mehta for sales exceeding one million records

Meher-Homji has a rare understanding of music which showed in his launch of the Eloquence label for UMA 10 years ago when he was able to reissue great classical recordings, creating a record sales of two million CDs. He has built up a range of over 400 releases, with many of the Australian Eloquence releases being CD premieres, mentioned Presto News, September 2009.
Rob Cowan, Gramophone critic and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster, says: "There’s a common gripe amongst collectors in the UK about CD manufacturers and their planning staff: why do they keep reissuing that same old material and, even more perplexing, why do they insist on coupling what they do reissue so badly?... Then along comes Cyrus Meher-Homji and suddenly it seems that all our prayers are being answered at once… well, not all maybe, because his influence can’t extend beyond the Universal stable!... Cyrus’ CDs are well-planned, well filled, invariably well annotated and full of little unexpected extras. But more than anything, they are the work of a man who cares, who has the collector’s interests at heart and for that reason has earned himself many well-deserved accolades.”
Eloquence CDs are competitively priced, the low cost hoping to "attract students …as well as the casual buyer. People shopping for Eloquence anecdotally seldom buy just a single CD. They feel courageous enough to flick through the range and purchase a handful,” says Meher-Homji. Almost 90 percent of his work on the Eloquence range is done after working hours and at home. "There’s simply not the time to do it at work. In a sense, it’s my contribution to the record industry — sometimes at the expense of a life!”
Meher-Homji had spent the formative years of his life in Poona. After his education at The Bishop’s School, at 18 years he left for Australia where he had to reappear for his school-leaving since matriculation from India was not recognized there. After his graduation in music from the University of Western Australia, he spent time in London and Sydney, completing his master’s degree in music.
Responding to Parsiana’s queries by e-mail Meher-Homji writes, "Music surrounded me as a child. My grandfather Manchi Meher-Homji was a sometime violinist, my parents Mehru and Addie loved classical music.” He studied piano with Enid Roberts in Poona and Farida Dubash in Bombay. Confessing to his "obsession with recordings,” he recalls "meddling with a pile of my grandmother Soonamai Bharucha’s 78 rpm shellac records which came crashing down in a pile” when he was around four years old. "I was banned for a time from playing (or playing with!) records and it only increased my desire for them,” he adds.
The musician considers Zoroastrianism "one of the most reasonable, balanced and benevolent of religions and I admire both its equanimity and its culture.” Amongst community celebrities he acknowledged the inspiration from the late Nani Palkhivala, "one of the most amazing minds I have ever come across.”
Having been with UMA for the last 14 years "something of a record these days in the music industry with its rapid changes,” Meher-Homji mentions how he was invited by the then managing director of UMA to join the classical and jazz division as marketing manager after running Soundscapes for six years.
Meher-Homji was music reviewer for The Australian and contributor to the most recent edition of the 29-volume musical encyclopedia, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and other magazines connected to music. He has also been the recipient of the prestigious Pascall Prize for Australian Critic of the Year and the annual award for outstanding contributions to the recording industry and the advancement of classical music in Australia conferred by the Australian Sound Recordings Association, states the release.
Three years ago he launched his own television program Good Listening on the Ovation channel, dedicated to classical recordings that is possibly the first time any television network in the world has dedicated significant telecast time to fine music recordings.