Simone Dinnerstein, who rocketed to fame in 2007 with her Goldberg Variations recording for which she had raised the money herself, has been signed by Sony Classical. The New York-based pianist was previously signed to Telarc, who released both the Bach and her follow-up disc “The Berlin Concert”. Both recordings reached No 1 on the US Billboard Classical chart. “I marvelled at Simone’s recording of the Goldberg Variations and have wanted to produce records with her ever since,” said Bogdan Roscic, president of Sony Classical. Of her playing, he said: “The modern piano has been called a machine-age beast, and Simone is taming it in a unique way, to a level of intimacy and expressivity all her own”. Dinnerstein, meanwhile, said she was “honoured to be joining Sony Classical to continue what has been a lifelong dream – recording and performing repertoire to which I feel closely connected”. The repertoire for her first Sony disc will be announced in the spring.