Playing concerts-how do you promote yourself by the big and small concert halls?

[franz_]

Hi guys,

I'm searching for some concerts. So i tried to write as good as possible emails to big and small concert halls and organisations. Percentage of an answer on my mails: 5% , positive answer: 2% .

How do you guys contact or promote yourself to play paid concerts? Do you give your price in the first mail already, do you speak about the program, do you give an audio example, do you call them, email them, by post,...?
If someone knows a website for such things, or has a standard mail for a concert request, please let me know.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[imbetter]

That's were an agent comes in. They do all of this work for you.

[invictious]

Short Answer: Win Competitions.

Long Answer: Win Piano Competitions. You can try getting yourself famous on Youtube first, then hopefully someone will dig you up.

[ramseytheii]

You are thinking of press kits, which contain pianists' media (pictures, recordings, posters; these days often digitized) and other information such as technical rider, fee sheet, anything pertaining to outreach activities (like masterclasses or lectures).  I don't know the official format of a fee schedule, which would have to indicate what expenses are covered by the base fee, and which are not included.

For example, Kissin might charge for a solo recital, 25,000 Euros; then on top of that, his contract/fee schedule will ask for certain hotel accommodations, probably specific flight reservations, etc.  Whatever costs him money, will go into that.  Some pianists have a flat fee, and their expenses are included in that fee. 

One time, on a small and very uncomfortable airplane, I saw Radu Lupu, who is a large man, scrunched into a tiny seat.  Well, he was just coming back from playing all 5 Beethoven concerti with the Cleveland Orchestra.  My guess was, he has a flat fee, and makes his own reservations to keep down costs.  This was a miserable airline and I cannot imagine the Cleveland Orchestra putting an artist in such a situation.

Speaking generally, the advantage of agents is that they have personal connections with venues.  Just being a pianist who sends in a press kit, is usually not helpful.  I know a fellow who managed a large series for a long time in a big city, and he told me he mainly just throws them in the trash.  Not out of personal animosity, but because he gets so many.

The larger competitions will provide management for some time after one wins, I think Van Cliburn is two years, Cleveland might also be two years.  I don't know about the Russian/European/Japanese ones but I imagine they are similar.  I don't know many competition winners that stay with their management after the allotted time.  Although people swear competitions are the only way to become successful, I think the very fact that 99% of the winners disappear shortly after they win is a reasonable doubt to that thesis.

Hope this little bit of information helps.
Walter Ramsey

[franz_]

Thank you very much for the nice answer Mr. Ramsey.
Could we also conclude that the only way to be picked up by an agent, is winning a competition?
And you don't have an example to send me such a press kit?

[Bob]

There's a thread on here somewhere about press kits. 

And I heard it's like having a part-time job, being your own agent.  Half your time is spent being the agent, half being the performer.

[ramseytheii]

Thank you very much for the nice answer Mr. Ramsey.
Could we also conclude that the only way to be picked up by an agent, is winning a competition?
And you don't have an example to send me such a press kit?

I would never conclude anything like that about competitions.  It might seem like a convenient thing for an agent, but that's only because our view of them is they are so watered down they are practically meaningless.  Artists have to not just follow what society tells them, but they have to lead, and show that one can be a great pianist without competitions.

I'm sour on competitions in general, they are like degrees, but rewarded almost randomly.  It's like you went to music school, and only a certain number of you were able to get a degree, and the faculty had to all convene and debate and negotiate between themselves who was going to get it.  Doctors always have their diplomas hanging in their office.  Well musicians don't have offices, and so the competition name is like a degree for us.  But the way they are dished out, in my view, takes away from their value.

These days most press kits are digitized, so search for a pianist that you know (a young one) and find their website.  They most likely will have high-resolution photos for you to download, audio clips, a bio, possibly a repertoire list, review samples, etc.  That is stuff that goes into a press kit.  Because it's online and accessible to everyone, I doubt that anyone would put a fee schedule or sample contract there.  You'd have to email them and pretend like you were going to hire them, if you wanted to see that; and that wouldn't be very nice would it?

I think it's essential to have a website.  Mailing out press kits is debatable, because they are costly and take a lot of time (you have to print lots of pictures, reproduce several CDs, make the presentation look professional, it's a whole package), and everything I've heard indicates that most of them end up in the trash.  Then again, one of those could be your lucky day, and you could find yourself playing somewhere nice.  Always play your best, even in the retirement homes, because you never know who's listening.

Walter Ramsey

[richard black]

So i tried to write as good as possible emails to big and small concert halls and organisations. Percentage of an answer on my mails: 5% , positive answer: 2%

That's quite a decent return. Take those 2% of gigs and try to capitalise on them next time you write round. You really have to make your own luck in this game.

[mikey6]

I'm going through this myself - it sucks!  A lot of it is luck and who you know! 
Networking is a big key!
Competitions can help give you work, I've played a few big venues because of them.  They also give me the shits! They're so unpredictable and as much as an adjudicator wants to be objective, it always come down to their personal opinion.  A lot of competitions are political (*cough* Leeds) and the winners disappear after a few years.
Something like Young Concert Artists Trust is good, as there is no number of set people they select, the final is at Wigmore Hall and they keep you for 4 years, promoting you and getting you high profile jobs.  Ian Bostrige to name 1 had his career launched from this. However it's only in London and New York.
I once spoke with Uchida's agent who said it takes them at least 7 years to make money off an artist.  It's a huge investment for them and they generally only take on roughly 6 or 7 people.  If you send them a package, they will throw it in the bin.  Th only way to get a hearing is for someone they already have in their books to recommend you.  She's a top class agent, maybe for lesser agents the story is different, but It doesn't sound to promising unless you have some connections!
That all sounds fairly negative, but I that's what I've come to realise and don't really know if it has a sweet ending....

[ramseytheii]

Also it should be mentioned that there are different kinds of agents, and different kinds of people you can have in your employ.  For instance Paul Jacobs (not the late pianist), the organist, is under management with Philip Truckenbrod, but also has a separate publicist who raises his profile in papers, magazines, radio, etc.

There are also agents to whom you can pay a retainer, and for those I am sure you don't need any qualifications, you just need $500 a month or whatever.  I don't know if those are to be trusted.

Walter Ramsey