Good karma blesses Vanessa: Instant Karma boss cues comeback via Sony classical.(Classical)

Classical crossover has come a long way since the release of Vanessa-Mae's 1995 breakthrough album, The Violin Player, especially in terms of target marketing and consumer development.

Critics still cite the Singapore-born fiddle player's teenage wet T-shirt publicity shots as the first evidence of classical's terminal decline. Others have suggested that her crossover repertoire called for a makeover.

Although Vannesa-Mae's early crossover albums did multi-million retail business for EMI--selling 8m--sales tailed off in the later stages of her contract with the company. Meanwhile, other acts emerged to take the lion's share of a market she had once dominated.

Rob Dickins, chairman of Instant Karma, remained convinced of Vanessa-Mac's star quality. He found a strong team of composers to write for her, sold the resulting concept to Sony Classical's international boss, Peter Gelb, and served as consultant when the project entered the studio.

Choreography is set for release on October 20, backed by a concert at the Royal Festival Hall the following day and suitably heavyweight marketing. The album offers 10 tracks inspired by dance, complete with original compositions by Vangelis, Bill Whelan, AR Rahman, Water Taieb and Jon Cohen. Khachaturian ...