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Solo Woes
The problem is critical.
About 35 years ago, when Saxon, an executive for Jewish philanthropies,
launched the Mitropoulos Competition with Leonard Berstein's
help, less than 200 pianists were listed in the Musical America
directory, the industry bible for bookers. Today, more than
700 are listed, but few have managers and the listings mask
the fact that most of them don't have regular work.
Says Monica Felkel of New York's Young Concert Artists,
an agency that helps book pianists aspiring to solo careers:
"It's not just that there are fewer concerts series. It's
that fewer of them want solo pianists. They want string quartets,
brass quintets, and chamber orchestras - more bodies on stage.
Many of today's halls are very large, and in this video age,
concert promoters want to give audiences something more than
pianist in a tailcoat."
The piano recital is an old institution. It was started
single-handedly by that matinee idol of the 1840s, Franz Liszt,
who even gave the event its name. In Europe, audiences still
throng to recital, "but here, there isn't enough money in
them unless it's really big name, so managers don't want to
bother," says Brodsky. Only a handful of pianists on the international
circuit, like Ivo Pogorelich, Maurizio Pollini or Eevgeny
Kissin, command $40,000 fees for a single recital.
American Kevin Kenner, 1990's winner of both Chopin Competitions
in Miami and Warsaw, says, "I'm based in London because it's
simply easier for me to make a career abroad."
Even pianists who play enough concerts to make a nominal
living in this country often adopt a more philosophical attitude
than the peripatetic grand virtuosi of half a century ago.
Ilya Itin, the Leeds winner from Russia, who lives in New
York, says he plays between 30 and 40 concerts a year, many
abroad, supporting himself on fees from $4,000 and up. He
also teaches private students yet doesn't mind his lifestyle.
Even now, at 88, she can be found each morning in her Miami
office at the Chopin Foundation trying to figure out how to
help the deluge of pianists who have no concerts. "There are
fewer and fewer solo recitals and series, and it's extremely
difficult to get orchestras to accept young pianists." She
says.
"When are enough concerts enough?" he asks, "One also wants
time to think about music and to live." But most young pianists
are not as fortunate, for they don't have even fairly regular
concerts, and their prospects without full-time teaching are
dim. Some may have CDs in the stores and even impressive reputations
among piano buffs, without having actual concert careers.
Setting the
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