from amateur to semi-pro

[clouseau]

Hello friends,

I wonder if there are any professional pianists around here and if so, I would like to ask them something:

Supposing someone has a well-polished recital repertoire ready, how can he get the chance of presenting his work, considering he has no reputation or contacts from the music business? How do I get a recital, or organize it? Which steps do I have to take.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

You can approach churches, universities, or music societies and offer specimen programmes. It will help if you have samples of your work that you can provide eg youtube videos, CDs or MP3s, soundcloud files. No need for them to be professionally made, but it will help if they don't look or sound amateurish - present day mobile phones have good video capability and tripods are cheap; portable recorders like Zoom, Tascam are affordable if not dirt cheap, but far better than recording with a phone.

You have to anticipate that most places won't be interested, but if you don't try, you won't get anywhere. Charity musical events are also a possibility. Putting on concerts yourself is likely to mean hiring a venue: it will certainly be the case if you live in a city that there will be places where this is possible, but often hiring a venue may be expensive.

[visitor]

Money talks, you can rent out a recital hall or even just a general stage venue or small theater and in that case if no piano no big you can rent and have a piano delivered there
Then advertise, put an ad in paper,  get local churches to announce I'm their bulletins, let local teachers know ao they can suggesdt to ttheir students as enrichment , guerilla marketing, Facebook Twitter etc, get someone with lots of flowered and visibility to give you a shout out, find the local music society, they usually meet in homes etc to play and discuss music, they can come and invite members etc

Advertise as free/no charge ,.or let people l know ttjey can donate if they wish but not required and let them know proceeds will go to a local charity or even a local music scholarship find, etc

[bronnestam]

Another suggestion is to participate in amateur contests, where you have the chance to meet an audience. 

[clouseau]

Thank you all for your insights
I shall think about those possibilities. I don't think I have enough monetas to rent a venue, however some basic Self promotion does not necessarily require a huge budget. Maybe a yt channel is not a bad idea. Amateur competition also seem to be an interesting option.

[dcstudio]

If you want to present your work then start by building an audience.  Simply having a sign up saying you will perform is not going to attract the numbers you are hoping for even if it's free to attend. You can either seek out people who have an interest in the music you will perform, or you can perform at a large event where there is a built in audience.  If you can walk into a venue with a headcount and a decent profit margin for them you will have no problem booking your concert. 
It really doesn't matter how well you can play...if nobody knows your name, you aren't going to fill the seats.

[timothy42b]

Supposing someone has a well-polished recital repertoire ready, how can he get the chance of presenting his work, considering he has no reputation or contacts from the music business?

Do you like all your repertoire?  (I'm guessing the answer is yes, or you wouldn't have put the effort into polishing it.)

Is any of it repertoire that anybody else would want to hear?  I've been to concerto recitals for various instruments, and while they show off the technical mastery of the performer, most of them are insanely boring. 

Nursing homes and assisted care facilities are always eager for entertainment.  My band plays them frequently, I probably do 8 concerts a summer.  But they don't want to hear Bach and Chopin; they want to hear Gershwin, showtunes, Tin Pan Alley, tv themes, Scott Joplin.  You have to fit your repertoire to your audience. 

[immisk]

Find a cause you're really passionate about (i.e. hurricane relief, building a water pump in a village, building a school or homes in Honduras) that already exists. Contact the cause and tell them you'd like to donate to their cause via a benefit concert. Go to a church and ask to speak to the music director about putting on a benefit concert and show that you've already begun the motions so they know you're legit and not just scamming for money. The director will get you a meeting with the pastor and with any luck, you'll be able to perform, get your name out there AND donate to a good cause.

I say this as the Director of Music and Liturgy of my church. We've put on benefit concerts before, you just have to have your credentials in order.