Decca Classics, the label home of artists including Janine Jansen, Renée Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli, has appointed a new Managing Director, Alexander Buhr.

Buhr is currently Managing Director of Mercury Classics, another Universal label whose artists range from Miloš Karadaglić to Tori Amos. Mercury will now become part of Decca, and remain under Buhr's leadership.

'It is an honour to take the helm of this outstanding label and I am excited to lead its exceptional team,' said Buhr. 'I have been inspired by Decca’s extraordinary artists as long as I can remember - I can’t wait to collaborate closely with them to further develop their remarkable careers, to bring new artists on board and to explore, with them, the incredible opportunities that lie ahead,' he added.

Buhr succeeds Paul Moseley, who ran the label during a period that saw the signing of some impressive young artists - including Benjamin Grosvenor and Julia Lezhneva - and some memorable reissue projects, ranging from a 65-CD box of the complete works of Benjamin Britten, to last year's set celebrating the Argo recordings of David Willcocks and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

Under Moseley's stewardship Decca Classics was named Gramophone Label of the Year in 2013, and in 2014 it earned Recording of the Year for Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus's cycle of the symphonies of Brahms. Moseley will remain with Universal, in the role of Senior Vice President of Strategic Content and Partnerships, Global Classics.