how much do the best concert pianists make?

[communist]

pianists like lang lang, argerich, hamelin, ect....make at big time halls like for example wigmore hall or lincoln center.

[richard black]

For artists at the Argerich level, think $5000 - $20,000 a night, roughly. Varies a bit according to country, repertoire etc.

[imbetter]

hmm i would think at least like $50,000

[ramseytheii]

Kissin reportedly charges 50,000 euros, and that is why he never appears in many places and with many orchestras.

Walter Ramsey

[ahkow]

I heard that in SG Yundi Li cancelled a concert with the SSO because his parents said that the "Money was not enough/too little". not sure about its credibility though

[mikey6]

I've heard Gergiev makes 50,000 a night with the LSO.
I think Ashkenazy used to make about the same.

[thierry13]

I've heard Gergiev makes 50,000 a night with the LSO.
I think Ashkenazy used to make about the same.

Enough to make a comfortable living...

[Bob]

I've heard $5-10,000 for colleges and universities, but those are "lesser" places and lesser performers.  So it must be more than that.

[Petter]

Decent meal and free beer?

[general disarray]

Decent meal and free beer?

Only if they turn tricks between performances . . .

[minor9th]

I hope Stephen Hough was well compensated last night for the torrent of notes he had to produce in Tchaikowsky's 2nd Piano Concerto! (with the SF Symphony) Talk about a lot of "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

[thalberg]

I've heard that the going rate for the top pianists is $80,000 per night.  I've also heard that exceptions to this are Uchida, who charges $60,000 and Pollini, who charges $100,000.  This was from a friend who says he investigated the matter thoroughly.  He says that if you consider how many concerts they play in a year, they make about five million dollars a year.

[tds]

Uchida, who charges $60,000 and Pollini, who charges $100,000. 

ok, suppose ur a event organizer and would like to have one of these people play in a 700 seater hall: how do you do your calculation? how much are the ticket price? how much you pay for the hall, and piano? how much for advertisement? all the operational costs? and what profit you think u'll make?

[mikey6]

ok, suppose ur a event organizer and would like to have one of these people play in a 700 seater hall: how do you do your calculation? how much are the ticket price? how much you pay for the hall, and piano? how much for advertisement? all the operational costs? and what profit you think u'll make?

I think most have the decency to scale down the fee depending on the venue!

[ahinton]

What any such pianists "make" - in other words, the amounts that they turn over, is one thing; what they end up with - i.e. their net disposable income after the agents / managers / publicists / tax authorities / have taken their cuts and the various expenses, not least of which is travel, have also been taken into account, is quite another.

Best,

Alistair

[lostinidlewonder]

How much you make depends on the audience size and price per ticket. You can't demand 50k per concert if the concert only barely makes 50k. From my experiences, I have kept 80%+ of concert sales after costs but I do a lot myself because I enjoy the business side of things, the chase, just as much as the performance.

The top concert pianist really makes a pittance compared to the top pop stars.

[njalli]

sorry for replying on a old thread.
But i was looking on Carnieges Hall website, and i found something out. Yund Li is going to have a concert in i think October, And depending on where you want to seat, you can buy tickets for 250 dollars or as low as 80-100 dollars, and the avarage price is about 150 dollars, and in carniege hall are 2800 seats, if you calculate 2800*150$ you get 420.000$ i think and if the performer (Yund li) gets to keep 80% he gets 336.000$ dollars JUST FOR  THIS ONE CONCERT.

[richard black]

if the performer (Yund li) gets to keep 80%

...it'll be nothing short of a miracle. But point made, even if he only gets 10% of that door take he'll be doing pretty well.

I remember a few years ago the Royal Opera House in London was doing some opera with Domingo in the male lead role on some nights only. On those nights, tickets were much more expensive, but the general director claimed in an interview that the amount extra they took for tickets was still not enough to cover Domingo's fee. I did the sums (since I know how many seats there are at each price there) and calculated that Domingo's fee, on that basis, must be at least £50,000 more than the singer performing on other nights. Or of course the general director was being economical with the truth - wouldn't be the first time.

[lostinidlewonder]

I think that if make 10% of ticket sales you are playing in a big venue with huge costs. In that case it has nothing really to do with top concert pianists just costs of playing in particular venues. Some big venues simply "invite" the musician to play and the musician accepts. Places like Sydney Opera House, you can't book it for a concert, you usually get asked to do it there. No one would pay $150 for a ticket for a piano concert here in Australia, maybe if you get a big meal with it.... or some knifes.

[ramseytheii]

Maybe somebody can shed some more light on this, but it is my understanding that with any major concert series / orchestra / opera, the bulk of the income doesn't come from ticket sales, but from corporate underwriters, endowments, trust funds, and major donations.

Walter Ramsey

[ahinton]

Maybe somebody can shed some more light on this, but it is my understanding that with any major concert series / orchestra / opera, the bulk of the income doesn't come from ticket sales, but from corporate underwriters, endowments, trust funds, and major donations.

The only light that I can shed on that is to endorse what you have written; box office receipts are but a drop in the ocean in the overall funding of such events to the point that even the ticket income from full houses can as a rule get nowhere near covering all the costs involved; that said, this thread is specifically about pianist's gross fees, whereas even for a solo piano recital there are many other costs including but by no means limited to transportation, venue hire and staff, ticket sales, publicity and promotion. Concert and opera performances are, for the most part, by definition loss-making exercises that depend for their very existence upon some or all of the kinds of external funding that you mention.

Best,

Alistair

[franzliszt2]

I wonder how much an opera singer gets for one night in Covent Garden! I mean tickets start at 12 pound, and there are not many of those. Then you get some 40 -90 pound tickets. Then they shoot up to 180pound, and then the majority of seats are about 200 pound. Then you get the 400-800 pound tickets! And the opera house is HUGE! I bet the leading roles get paid so much

[ahinton]

I wonder how much an opera singer gets for one night in Covent Garden! I mean tickets start at 12 pound, and there are not many of those. Then you get some 40 -90 pound tickets. Then they shoot up to 180pound, and then the majority of seats are about 200 pound. Then you get the 400-800 pound tickets! And the opera house is HUGE! I bet the leading roles get paid so much

The amount will depend very much on who the singer is; the principal pont to remember, however, is that even when that house is full and few price discounts have been offered to ticket holders, the box office revenue will almost inevitably still be a drop in the ocean in comparison to the overall costs involved in the staging of the opera concerned.

Best,

Alistair

[njalli]

I wonder how much an opera singer gets for one night in Covent Garden! I mean tickets start at 12 pound, and there are not many of those. Then you get some 40 -90 pound tickets. Then they shoot up to 180pound, and then the majority of seats are about 200 pound. Then you get the 400-800 pound tickets! And the opera house is HUGE! I bet the leading roles get paid so much

im not so sure, you see in operas, you must pay everyone that came near the show, all of the singers, the other who play, the director, costume designers, and nearly everyone around the show.

but in conserts, the piano player just gets 80% of the ticket sale, no need to pay for all of the others

[leftca]

Dont want to bring a thread back from the dead, but i feel this is very important, to shed some light on. My piano teacher (like 70 years old) ex husband was a teller. Horowitz came in and cashed his cheque for the last concert he preformed. While he wasnt suppost to he took a photocopy of it. She still has the photocopy of the actual check he was paid with. From what i recall the total was ~$5,000