Sibelius History

Sibelius Software is a London-based software company and a part of Avid Technology that develops and sells music notation and music education software.

The company was named after the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and was founded in April 1993 by twins Ben and Jonathan Finn to sell the Sibelius notation program along with the Acorn Archimedes computers it was designed for. In August 2006 the company was acquired by Avid, to become part of its Digidesign division, also the manufacturer of leading digital audio workstation, Pro Tools.

Sibelius Software supports the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Its best-known product, Sibelius, was first released for Acorn computers in 1993, and for Windows in late 1998. Sibelius 2, an improved version, was released in 2001. In 2003, Sibelius 3 was released, including new features such as Kontakt Player and the ability to mix virtual instrument output directly to waveform. Sibelius 4 was released in July 2005, including many new features such the ability to write music synchronized to video, automatically updating instrumental parts, and a redesigned user interface. Sibelius 5, the latest version, was released in June, 2007, and features "panorama" view, support for VST effects and instruments, an included sample library, Sibelius Sounds Essentials, and several other improvements.

In recent years the company has also released various other music programs, including a range of software for teaching music called Sibelius Educational Suite, as well as a special version of Sibelius intended for students of music.

In 2005 the company was given the prestigious Queen's Award for Innovation.

Professional