Week of January 20, 2020
Dear Friend,
I'm writing today from New York City, where we've just finished the 42nd Annual National Conference of Chamber Music America.
Chamber Music America - or CMA - is the national service association for the chamber music field, and its national conference is the easiest place for us to have face-to-face conversations with the people who manage the careers of the artists that appear at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit.
While it may seem that our artists just magically appear in Metro Detroit on our concert nights, the planning for our concerts starts as much as two years in advance. It's hard to imagine, but I've just spent the last three days having conversations with managers about the artists that will perform for us from September 2021 through May 2022!
I can't tell you yet what we'll hear that year, but I thought it would be fun to introduce you to some of the managers behind the artists we hear.
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This fellow (on the left of course) is Lee Prinz. He has just become the new President and CEO of Colbert Artists Management, one of the most highly respected small management firms in our field. Every concert you hear by the
Juilliard String Quartet
was preceded by a contract with Colbert Artists, and now Lee will be the person signing them. Colbert also manages
Dawn Upshaw
,
Ursula Oppens
,
Anthony Marwood
, and a couple dozen other great singers, conductors, instrumentalists, and ensembles. He's
great
to work with!
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This is Shirley Kirschbaum. Not only does she run a highly respected artist management firm, she is also the most highly respected publicist in the entire classical music field. Her brother is the noted cellist Ralph Kirschbaum, whom she also manages. Shirley is a joy to work with, and has made possible our concerts by the
Danish String Quartet
coming next on February 1 (
click here for more information
), pianist
Peter Serkin
, and our many visits by violinist
Pinchas Zukerman
(might wanna mark your calendar for next September 12... just sayin'...).
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This young gentleman is Daniel Vesey, one of the nicest guys at his firm, Opus 3 Artists, which is one of the largest management firms in the world. "Opus 3" refers to the third name of the firm originally founded by the legendary early 20th century empressario, Sol Hurok. Known for several decades as "ICM," the classical division split off a few years ago as Opus 3 Artsts. They are responsible this season for our concerts by
Alisa Weilerstein & Inon Barnatan
(
click here
), and
Yefim Bronfman
(
click here
); and they have many,
many
other very big stars on their roster.
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Meet Frank Salomon, a true living legend in this field. Frank manages
Leon Fleischer
,
Richard Goode
, the
KLR Trio
, and many other wonderful artists (Sir Simon Rattle!). But that's just the tip of the iceberg. For decades Frank has also skillfully administered the Marlboro Music Festival, the unique People's Symphony Series in New York City, and the New York String Seminar, a program for gifted young musicians every year over the winter holidays at Carnegie Hall. His knowledge of music and musicians is vast, and his passionate energy knows no bounds.
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This is Marianne Sciolino, whose firm is one of the newer ones in our field. Her roster is wonderful with lots of younger artists, and includes one of my personal favorites, the
Harlem Quartet
. Rosters evolve and change all the time, and Marianne has just taken on the
Rolston Quartet
, winners of the 2018 Cleveland Quartet Award who will be playing for us in Midtown Detroit on May 1 (
click here
) and Beverly Hills on May 2 (
click here
). For me, a real highlight of the CMA conference is the open house Marianne and her husband host each year in their Central Park West apartment. Nobody works harder than Marianne, and her commitment to the increasing diversity in our field is inspiring.
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Another wonderful fixture in the classical music field is Bill Capone of the Artists Management Group. I met Bill for the first time way back in in 1982 when he was organizing a tour for the Louisville (KY) Ballet on behalf of his boss at the time, Harold Shaw (Vladimir Horowitz's manager). Owner of his own firm for 25 years, Bill now specializes in organizing the tours for several great European ensembles, like the
Ebene Quartet
we enjoyed a few years ago. His stateside roster includes
Imani Winds
and
Trio Solisti
, whose finale concert of our season is on May 16 (
click here
).
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Though his roster is not a big one, David Rowe is the only manager at the conference who
only
represents chamber music ensembles. He manages the annual national tours of the
Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center
, as well as the
Brentano String Quartet
, the
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble
, and a variety of others both foreign and domestic. David is based in Boston rather than New York, and his taste in chamber music reflects the unique refinement of that deeply musical city.
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Finally, there is my good friend John Zion, whose firm MKI Artists is easily the fastest growing in the country. He bought out the founder, Mel Kaplan, four years ago, and has since added clarinetist
Anthony McGill
, composer
Jessie Montgomery
, and the
Miro
and
Shanghai Quartets
to a roster that already includes the
Ariel
,
Dover
and
Pacifica Quartets
, pianist (and my teacher)
Menahem Pressler
, and lots more. Of special note, John manages the
Gryphon Trio
,
who will be
here
NEXT WEEKEND (!)
to perform a cycle of the
complete Beethoven piano trios
in Grosse Pointe, Canton and Rochester Hills (
tickets here!
).
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John and I had
so
much to talk about (we're both members of CMA's Board of Directors) that I completely forgot to take a selfie picture with him. So here he is instead with his wonderful staff at their office in Burlington, Vermont.
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As you can see, there really are LOTS of great people behind the wonderful concerts you hear at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit.
Please join us!
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Steve Wogaman, President
Chamber Music Society of Detroit
Tickets: 313-335-3300 or
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