Chamber Music America NYC 2011

Here's some more hard earned info for self-promoting musicians - musicians and musical groups who want to tour - as compiled by a fellow traveler now living in New York City.

The Chamber Music America Conference http://www.chamber-music.org/events/ happened January 13-16 here in New York. In some ways it was energizing and in some other ways it was enervating. I put up my usual booth, here depicted at the Midwest Arts Conference:

First, the energizing part: showcase performances by wonderful musicians. CMA showcases are juried affairs - 80 submissions and 20 approved showcases. I'll particularly mention the
Fifth House Ensemble from Chicago http://www.fifth-house.com/index2.php#/home/,
Duo Concertante from Canada http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/05/02/arts-awards.html, and the
Prism Saxophone Quartet http://prismquartet.com/ from just about everywhere.

And the enervating part: at CMA perhaps 60 booths compared to almost 1000 at APAP. We're talking here about the comparison between the moribund scene that is classical chamber music and the energized arts scene that is happening everywhere else.

That's not to say that APAP didn't present classical chamber music, it did. But all the shows at APAP were at least in part about ENTERTAINMENT. It seems to me, having played innumerable family style and outreach style classical concerts, that traditional classical concerts are about EDUCATING the audience to appreciate the music of a bygone era.

For me, ENTERTAINMENT wins hands down over EDUCATION. My advice: CMA is a great place to meet some great musicians, but it is unlikely on its own to get you any gigs.

CMA (and APAP) happen at the wrong time of year to effectively sell a touring show. Presenters start thinking about next year's line-up at least a year and a half ahead of time. In September they may (or may not) go to a Trade Conference like Arts MIdwest. In October they are filling in their rosters.
If they attend the January conferences, it's merely to reinforce what they have already decided on or perhaps to fill in a lingering slot in their schedule.

The above analysis of the conference scene is courtesy of Manuel Prestamo of Peformance Management International http://www.pmiarts.com/

Dr. Prestamo says much of booking is still done simply because someone knows someone and has known that someone for a long time. Now that's not only enervating but downright discouraging. Maybe I'll just pack up my booth and cry (or is that die?).

International Society for the Performing Arts

Ann Summers of Ann Summers International encouraged me to attend the pitch sessions of the ISPA
Conference http://www.ispa.org/, held in NYC the same week as the APAP Conference and Chamber  Music America.

Here's what ISPA says about itself:
ISPA is a network of over 350 individuals, organizations and institutions from more than 40 countries around the world.  Members include some of the world's most significant presenting organizations, independent artists, performing arts organizations, artist managers, cultural policy groups, foundations, consultants, and many others who share the desire to advance the field of the performing arts on a global scale.

And it's expensive! Over $1000 if one wants to attend all 3 days. I attended only one day and it was $350.
I'll admit I don't have a whole lot of experience to go on, just one day at ISPA. But something that struck me very much at ISPA: this is a "good old boys club." Everybody knows everybody else. Mind you, this is a world-wide good old boys club, but nevertheless...

The pitch sessions were given in an auditorium, and since the theme of the conference was "The Art of Collaboration" the pitch sessions were indeed about collaboration. Each pitch was limited to 15 minutes and included video footage of a project. Some of the pitches were simply about finding bookings. Others were about finding cash to back the next stage in the project.

They were impressive. These are the artistic establishment, perhaps the avant garde establishment, but still the establishment. None of the projects were being produced in someone's basement. . None of the projects was from an individual artist, all were collectives, high octane collectives. A group fro Vancouver, for instance, had a multi-media project including 3 dimensional images projected on stage, at a cost of $700,000/

Make no mistake about it. This is an opportunity to make high stakes connections around the world. The next ISPA Conference happens in Toronto in June. Ann Summers wants me to pitch the Pocket Madam Butterfly. She's in Italy raising money. I'm keeping my powder dry but I've got my fingers crossed.

APAP Conference New York 2011

Awesome! Cool! The 2011 Conference of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters held here in NYC from January 7-11, which I attended, was exciting and inspiring. The classical music types had all growled to me, "Not worth going. It's all pop stuff." Wrong! 
http://www.apapnyc.org/Pages/default.aspx

APAP is about shows that are entertaining, to be sure, but many of the showcases that I attended were absolutely first rate artistically as well. Lots of theater and dance, lots of genres from country music to jazz to cross-over to fringe theater. Not much straight classical, to be sure, but what there was offered innovative approaches to concert presentation. The ISPA and the CMA conventions, which I also attended in January, were staid by comparison. The shows of Voice Afire www.voiceafire.com fit APAP like a well-worn glove.

APAP is enormous - the biggest music trade show on the globe. The center of activity was the New York Hilton, where on 3 floors there were almost 1000 booths.

There were also almost 1000 showcase performances, counting performances done more than once.

Some of the showcases were performed at the Hilton, but most were scattered throughout Manhattan, in every imaginable venue. Here's a page from the 152 page of APAP Showcase Listings:

This year I didn't pay to have a booth and I didn't organize a showcase. Next year, I will enter the competitive soup that is APAP. Here are links to performers who showcased at APAP 2011:

Sweet Plantain (string quartet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7xEmG_x7wI&feature=related

Real Vocal String Quartet

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8oesEOoIC8

Acrobats of Cirque-tacular

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux7J_9KhlmU

Quartet San Francisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq5RyWEMAv8

And while you're at it, check out an excerpt of Circus Terrifico, Voice Afire's collaboration with Motus O Dance Theatre http://www.kbamonline.com/~kbamonline/motuso.html, their off-the-wall version of Swan Lake:

http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceafire#p/u/4/_R3ld2d9Vq0

Comments on Classical Music presentation as staid and boring? And how about comments on: "Classical Music presenters talk the talk about innovating but don't walk the walk."

Rita and Victor Costanzi

Rita Costanzi, harpist extraordinaire, and Victor Costanzi, violinist extraordinaire, invited Dulce and me to their Bronx apartment building for a special concert. The concert was a Christmas show and sing-a-long for their fellow apartment dwellers and was presented in the foyer of their building.

Both Rita and Victor are former members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and both decided to move to NYC a few years ago. Vancouver was the obvious loser. Victor and Rita are both outsize personalities and musicians. Rita was twice winner of the American Harp Society's National Competition and recipient of the Lily Laskine award for the most outstanding harp recital. Victor performs with a long list of groups both here and in New Jersey.


Rita is also an actress. From Rita's website http://www.ritacostanzi.com/about_rita.shtml : Adding a new dimension to her performance art, Rita Costanzi astounds audiences with the three monodramas written especially for her. The Westcoast Music Awards nominated her solo Classical CD, Of Fields and Forests for “Best Classical Album”. Vancouver Television introduced her in its series Pacific Profiles featuring prominent and unique individuals living in Vancouver and CBC Radio’s Tapestry devoted a documentary to her work playing for the terminally ill. Her fourth and most recent CD, Song of the Stars, an album of Celtic music for contemplation and healing, received a Five Star rating from CBC Radio’s Sound Advice. Her latestcomposition, Beneath Her Heart, for Women’s Choir, Children’s Choir andNarrator,was premiered by Vancouver’s Elektra Women’s Choir in April, 2008.




How do I know Rita and Victor? Along with the obvious downside, there are certain benefits to being a composer. I have written 5 pieces for the harp, two of which have been recorded by Judy Loman, another extraordinary harpist. Correct me if I am wrong - I believe that I am the only composer in history to have written not 1 but 2 works for harp and string quartet:

The Moon in the Labyrinth:
Mvt. 3 : http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/MP3_3/MoonLab3.mp3

The Lyre of Orpheus
Mvt. 3 : http://pwusk.powweb.com/voiceafire/MP3_3/Lyre3.mp3

Comments from harpists? Vancouver?

The Austrian Cultural Forum

Here's another interesting place to make your NY debut, The Austrian Cultural Forum.

http://www.acfny.org/

Here's what Wikopedia says:

Concerts and performances are presented either in the in-house auditorium or at various venues in New York. Outside performances are organized in cooperation with American partner institutions, and have included concerts at Carnegie Hall and Judson Memorial Church.

Among other events, Moving Patterns, an electronic music festival first staged in spring 2005, introduces Austrian electronic and experimental musicians in the USA and is considered an important contribution to the electronica scene. The ACF regularly screens films on Austrian subjects or by Austrian filmmakers as part of a year-round series and also shows films in special screenings in the context of other events organized by the Cultural Forum. Activities of the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York also include a variety of podium discussions, readings, and book presentations.

I went to hear a concert given by the Argento Group  http://www.argentomusic.org/about.html

This concert supposedly featured music influenced by Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. 

The music, except for a piece by Schoenberg and another by Luigi Nono, was all by living and mostly local composers. Nono's piece featured contra-bass flute.

The players were fantastic, less so the music. I had thought the 12 tone system was good and dead.

Americas Society and Continuum

So you're looking for a place to perform in NYC? Easy enough. But what about drumming up an audience? Not so easy.

If you have an interesting program to present, you might try the Americas Society at 680 Park Ave..
On Monday Dulce and I attended a concert at the Americas Society http://as.americas-society.org/page.php?k=AboutAS. The concert featured Continuum http://www.continuum-ensemble-ny.org/, the well-known NY new music group, in a program of Canadian music: the likes of R. Murray-Schafer, John Weinzweig, Ann Southam, Diana McIntosh, Giles Tremblay, and Claude Vivier. Not exactly household names here in NY, and yet the concert was well-attended - about 60 people. Note that the Americas Society room is expandable. I would guess that it could seat about 120 people in its expanded version.

The Continuum performers gave terrific, committed performances. After the concert there was a meet-the-performer reception. I was able to touch base with Continuum's directors, Joel Sachs and Cheryl Seltzer.
I also met Continuum's excellent harpist, Bridget Kibbey.

Is this information helpful?

Creating buzz in NYC

Dulce, my Portuguese/Canadian wife, finally received her US Visa, after what seemed like an endless time in limbo (which the Catholics say no longer exists). I drove my rented Mazda 5 SUV to Toronto through snow, sleet, rain, and fog and picked her up along with the 2 cats and our remaning earthly possessions. Then with the 2 drugged cats, we drove through a blizzard back to NYC, at one point getting stuck in a snow bank.
Here is a close-up of Dulce as we crossed the George Washington Bridge, in the dark with traffic whizzing on all sides, into NYC.

And, later, here is Dulce, happy, at Columbus Circle all decked out for Christmas.

Dulce is helping me create a "buzz" for my upcoming show at Symphony Space, The Art of Love. http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceafire#p/u/4/a6H3G1oTnX8"Creating buzz" is the assignment given me by renowned Canadian arts manager Andrew Kwan http://www.andrewkwanartists.com/About_Us/about_us.html . How to do it? Sitting over a coffee and reading the NY Times at Cosi, our favorite Manhattan coffee spot, an idea came to me.

Start with the New York Times Arts Section. The Art of Love is both a musical performance, a theater piece, and a multi-media show incorporating a film by Ron Hurwitz: http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceafire#p/u/30/JxxSs6QpplM. Therefore, check out the music critics, the theater critics, and the film critics writing reviews in the NY Times. For Tuesday, December 7 these were:
Ben Brantley, theater
John Pareles, music
James R. Oestreich, music
Daniel J. Wakin, music
Alan Kozinn, music
Anthony Tommasini, music
Larry Rohter, film
Patrick Healy, theater
David Rooney, theater
Our next task is to write some terrific press releases about The Art of Love, and to the get these off to the above critiics. How? That's our next problem.

Ideas?