Experiences of a Lay Concert Agent

A collection of experiences / lessons learned from organizing concerts / piano recitals for an artist, maybe a draft protocol for future instances?

Igor Levit — Tonhalle Zurich, 2014-10-21

Igor Levit was born 1987 in Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky); in 1995 his family moved to Germany; he grew up with the piano (his mother is a pianist whose teacher had once studied with Heinrich Neuhaus), did his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and finished with the best notes ever given by that institution. Aged 17, he was the youngest participant at the International Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, in 2005; he won the second prize, plus several special awards, such as the special prize for chamber music, and the audience award…

Wang, Sahatçi, Grossenbacher — Tonhalle Zurich, 2014-09-14

(…) For this season (2014/15), the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is “Artist in residence” at the Tonhalle. This position / title entails a number of concert (limited, though, considering the demand she faces all over the world), the first two of which were the opening concerts of the season, a third one was on Sunday, 2014-09-14, with chamber music: she was joined by two prominent musicians from the Tonhalle Orchestra…

Yuja Wang, Lionel Bringuier / TOZ — Tonhalle Zurich, 2014-09-11

(…) Lionel Bringuier (*1986) takes over from David Zinman (*1936) who has directed the orchestra for 19 years — more than twice as long as any director after the first two, Friedrich Hegar (from the foundation 1868 up till 1906) and Volkmar Andreae (1906 – 1949). Zinman has led the orchestra into a new and successful international and recording career — for him, this was the crowning of his career, while for Bringuier this is the second direction (after 3 years in Valladolid / Spain), and likely the first highlight in a promising career…

Yulianna Avdeeva — Warsaw (Live Webcast), 2014-05-30

On 2014-05-30, the final concert from the season 2013/2014 in the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall was broadcast online. The concert featured Yulianna Avdeeva, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Jacek Kasprzyk, and the tenor Thomas Warmijak. The program for the concert included…

Yulianna Avdeeva — Piano Recital, Baden/CH, 2014-03-08

(…) Yulianna’s playing was excellent! She is very virtuosic and very expressive! Where the tempo permits, she is nearly as clear in the articulation as Steven Hough — but she is way more expressive; unlike Volodos, she follows the score; she is not overpowering the music like Volodos, but has more agility than her Russian colleague (and avoids his unnecessary additions, I should say), she is often almost as fast and eruptive as Cziffra in the virtuosic octave passages, but in general keeps her articulation under control…