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Today's cartoon strip by Harry Bliss made me smile
http://www.gocomics.com/bliss/2015/02/25

Then I thought of two recent articles posted on Norman Lebrecht's blog

http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/im-a-concert-pianist-with-great-reviews-i-work-behind-a-bar/
http://slippedisc.com/2015/02/gidon-kremer-cancels-six-weeks-blaming-the-music-business/

and it's not quite so funny anymore.

The first one is an open-letter from a concert pianist who has to work as a bartender to make a living.

The second one is about an eminent violinist who chose to cancel a tour rather than perform with a "big-name" pianist insisted on by the tour promoters. (By the way, my hunch is that the "big-name" is Yuja Wang.)

Lately, major concert halls (Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall) in the U.S. have been announcing their 2015-16 season lineup's, and it seems they are parading out the same handful of usual suspect soloists (a.k.a. "superstars" - Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Yuja Wang, etc.)

I feel for the many piano prodigies who toil under the delusion of fame and fortune.

Lordy, they rejected Yulianna Avdeeva for piano?!???

Absolutely insane.

And completely foolish!

Looks like a communication issue to me. Imagine a conversation like this:


Artist: We have this (promising but relatively unknown) pianist, and some other potentials to work with.

Promoters: Hey look! Forget that! We've got a super famous superstar to work with! You won't believe how lucky we are!!

Artist: What? I don't want to work with them, I quit.

Working with promoters and salespeople you have to understand they have completely different priorities (it's their job to pay the bills primarily. If they can't fill the concert hall, they're in trouble, whereas the artist moves on to the next concert. And remember the super-stars are usually at least decent artists). When you're in that kind of situation, try to understand the viewpoint of the other side. Don't throw ultimatums, try to push for what you want, help the person understand your viewpoint. Consider this alternative conversation.


Artist: We have this (promising but relatively unknown) pianist, and some other potentials to work with.

Promoters: Hey look! Forget that! We've got a super famous superstar to work with! You won't believe how lucky we are!!

Artist: That's great, good job. However, I really like this (promising unknown) pianist. How can I help you promote them?

Promoters: Really? I thought you would like this famous pianist. Are you sure?

Artist: Yes. Look at all the good she has: Winner of Chopin competition, lauded by Agerich, [etc list of things promoters can use to make her look good].

Promoters: Oh yeah, that is a good list of things. I can get people to come to a concert like that.

By working with people, understanding what they need, helping them see your viewpoint, then you can find a compromise that gives benefit to everyone and you won't have to storm out and write a bitter letter to the world.

Now the orchestra he was working with has to find a violinist and a pianist.

Thanks for posting the two interesting articles.

The issue with Yuja Wang, if there was one, may have been with her revealing attire. We are talking about some highly conservative audiences and patrons.

You don't have to be highly conservative to find her outfits inappropriate.

Yuja Wang is an excellent collaborator in violin sonatas, as her recent CD (Brahms violin sonatas) with Leonidas Kavakos showed.

Is Gidon afraid of being upstaged?

Though I'm amazed that Avdeeva isn't a big enough name in USA to draw in audiences (apparently) - she's already played in several big festivals in Europe.

But the winner of the Chopin would hardly be unknown.

The major halls are large and to fill them one has to have very very famous pianists.

That's basically my point. The concert organizers reasonably would have been happy to have such a pianist. Therefore we can conclude there was a lack of understanding (and general bitterness from the prima donna violinist).

The problem was, people bought tickets to hear Trifonov play. It wasn't a matter of just replacing the pianist so the show could go on. The promoters would have had a lot of return tickets.

As to the question "Who gets to play in concerts?" I'd say, in the end, the audience decides everything.

What's wrong with her outfits?

She's a FOX!!

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Yuja+Wang+Echo+Klassik+2011+pOcnHelxDXDl.jpg


What do you expect from a 28 yo gorgeous woman?

You are only young once, so you might as well live it up!

Sex sells, always did, always will. Do you all want
Classical music to shrivel up and die off? Don't you
understand to keep Classical music alive, we have to
get the younger people interested in it?

I'd marry her in 2 seconds:

https://www.google.com/search?q=yuj...g+dress&revid=609216588&imgdii=_

YOWZA!

Unfortunately, we all have to pay the bills,
and certainly Yuja Wang would sell more tickets
than Yulianna Avdeeva.

But this doesn't mean they shouldn't give Yulianna
a chance. She's a gorgeous woman too....they could
do some serious marketing with her.

Without knowing the specifics (who it is and their repertoire), it is hard to assess what is going on.



I doubt Kremer's "big name" was Wang, since she's pretty solidly booked for that time period already.

I think there might be a bit of a problem if that's relevant...Considering how many unattractive but very good male pianists there are, we must be missing a lot of female talent if this attitude is prevalent. And I'm afraid it is.

The idea that every good pianist will be able to make a full-time living from solo concert performance is just misguided. The worldwide market will bear maybe, what, 15-20 full-time touring soloists? 50 soloists? And that's all over the world, all ages. Meanwhile, how many students per YEAR are graduating with piano performance majors?

I sympathize with the British pianist in the article, but I am a bit irritated by his sense of entitlement. Just because you play incredibly well doesn't mean an audience will want to go pay $80 to hear Argerich, and then $80 to hear Uchida, and then $80 to hear Perahia, and then another $80 to go hear you.

A good pianist will always be able to find work at the piano, but it may be teaching or a church job or something else that doesn't have the glory of the solo concert stage. (Some of us might even find those things more rewarding than concert performance, if we don't let our egos get in the way.)

Talent and musical training won't teach you how to build a life. That we all must learn on our own. Or if we don't want to teach, or play for a church, or accompany in school or local groups, etc. because we turn up our noses at anything that isn't solo concerts... I guess we could still tend bar.

This is such an excellent line, Heather!

Heather, I'm printing your post to hand it to every one of my students!

Building upon Heather's excellent post, here's an interesting response to the article that was submitted by pianist Jeffrey Biegel:

"There are no Cinderella stories in this business. I know exactly what this young man is going through–I did for many years, and, it is still not easy for even established musicians to maintain steady flow of engagements. He must start to think as I did in the late 1990s. Become entrepreneurial, design new projects, find composers who could write new concerti for you, raise the money by doing exactly what I did–apply for grants, private donors, orchestras. And, at the same time, cultivate new repertoire. There are no magic bullets, unfortunately. One must learn, by necessity, to become very creative in a very competitive environment. Record YouTube videos and create your own channel–get them out there. Just some ideas. Hope they are helpful to this young man. I feel for him and know exactly what he feels."

Since the owners of this site hold a copyright on everything posted here, that would probably not be a great move.

>Since the owners of this site hold a copyright on everything posted here, that would probably not be a great move. grin

Did I miss something?

The bottom line is that the vast majority of people - men especially - have an inflated view of their own talents (and/or accomplishment), and the sense of entitlement that goes with it......

(I'm brilliant at what I do, therefore I should be rich, blah, blah, blah.....)