The management game
Classical Music, September 2006
Intermusica Artists' Management is 25 years old. Andrew Green speaks to founder Stephen Lumsden and employees about its history, its business principles, and how collectively they keep it young, fresh and exciting.
There is never any shortage of people willing to try their hand at artist management. A good few fall by the wayside; others carve out a lasting niche for themselves, but barely any go on to build substantial businesses as major players on the international scene. When Intermusica began life 25 years ago, it consisted of Stephen Lumsden and a kitchen table in North London. Now he has a member of staff for every year of the company's existence, housed on several floors in a smart corner of Islington.
Lumsden studied bassoon at the Guildhall School and had already built the foundations of a playing career by the time he left, having freelanced with a range of London orchestras. 'But I could see a danger that the pleasure of music-making would become buried beneath all the other demands of being in an orchestra.'
Fate took a hand. Considering other career options, Lumsden went to pick the brains of artist manager Wilfred Stiff at the Ibbs and Tillett office. Stiff had been rung that very day by fellow-agent Basil Douglas, who was looking for a new member of staff. 'I was put in a taxi, went to see Basil and started working for him the next Monday.'
Lumsden soon came to the conclusion already reached by various other London managers, that 'representing an artist had to be more creative and personal than it had been. It seemed blindingly obvious.
'Eventually, on a trip for Basil to Northern Europe, more than one promoter happened to say, "Why don't you set up on your own?". Then two or three artists I was working for said something similar. It was then a case of "To hell with it ... why not?" - a reckless thing to do, though, especially as I'd recently become a father.'
Lumsden remembers all too vividly the scary feeling of sitting at that kitchen table wondering if he'd disappeared off the music business radar. 'But I was immensely touched in my first week when a contact at a London orchestra rang and said: "I admire what you've done. Now, I've a couple of possibilities that might interest your artists." Someone knew I still existed.'
Lumsden sees two artists in particular as having helped establish Intermusica. First, setting up London recitals for French pianist Cecile Ousset caught the public imagination. 'EMI came on board and there was also a major Omnibus tv documentary about her. Cecile's success was a key factor in other artists of stature wanting Intermusica to represent them.'
Then there was American soprano Arleen Auger, whose career had faltered alarmingly. Lumsden was approached on Auger's behalf by her US general managers. 'I told them I didn't do singers. However, I was invited to a recital given by Arleen in Vienna. Immediately I realised what an extraordinary artist and human being she was. It was the start of a long and successful relationship, cut short by her sad death.'
Diversification has since been a key feature of Intermusica's remarkable success, embracing a progressively more broad-based artist list, event promotion and a 'tours and projects' department. Like other leading players based in London, the company works directly with promoters and partners on a truly global scale. Lumsden sees the development of Intermusica as having been a matter of 'the often sudden appearance of green shoots in a particular area, followed by growth dependent on the addition of key senior staff, then consolidation. Leaps of faith are part and parcel of growth.'
One such leap was the relatively recent creation of a vocal and opera department from scratch - a process eased by the fact that the person employed to develop it, John McMurray, was followed by a string of singers managed in his previous employment at IMG Artists. Leading names include the likes of Claire Rutter and David Rendall. 'We'd always wanted a singers' department,' says Lumsden, 'but it had to happen at the right moment in the company's evolution.'
This autumn McMurray departs to become casting director at English National Opera, but crucially is replaced by another person with long experience in the business - Julia Maynard, formerly at both IMG and HarrisonParrott.
Then there has been Intermusica's longstanding commitment to promoting concerts - most notably but by no means solely the International Chamber Music Season presented in association with the South Bank Centre. A partial by-product has been the development of the Intermusica promotions department, which among other things sharpens the company image, especially via the smart company newsletter and website.
Marketing and publicity administrator Simon Wall is just completing a web site upgrade aimed at rendering it speedily adaptable, while also enhancing audio accessibility. 'It's so important to keep the website right up to date and extremely flexible. One obvious use is when artist managers are talking on the phone to promoters anywhere in the world - the web site can be used during the discussion.'
One prime indicator of change in the music business is Intermusica's ever-developing orchestral touring. A decade ago Lumsden enhanced the company's existing commitments in this field by hiring a full-time specialist, Peter Savory. 'I was originally entirely on my own,' Savory recalls. 'I'd go from clinching one tour to organising hotels for another! Now there are five in the department.
'The orchestral touring was linked at first to managing our artists: they'd appear as soloists during these tours. This led orchestras to ask whether we might arrange trips for them independently of our artists. But these days a key feature of working especially with top-level orchestras is the importance of artistic ideas. In the old days, you put together a Programme A and a Programme B for promoters in various touring centres to choose from. Now, major orchestras increasingly like to be involved in specially devised projects and stay in one place for a period, to make an impact.
'Last November we took the New York Philharmonic to Dresden for several concerts, including a new work by Colin Matthews, to mark the opening of the renovated Frauenkirche. It's hardly news to a major orchestra if we simply say that a leading hall will present them, what matters is the nature of the projects we can create. Top-level orchestras understandably need to see the value of using an agent rather than dealing direct with a venue. And orchestras have very high expectations in all areas these days, not least travel and hotel arrangements.'
Indeed, Intermusica's head of artist department, Bridget Emmerson (who manages such names as Andrew Manze and Angela Hewitt) sees artist management in general as having become a much tougher game over the quarter-century since she first entered the field. 'Email has revolutionised the job, making things so much faster and enabling you to communicate directly with a far greater range of promoters worldwide. But the sheer volume of communications that come via this medium make it such a challenge to hang on to the core tasks, to be clear-sighted about your key business relationships.
'In fact, face-to-face meetings with promoters have become more important, not less, so there's more travel required. It's so important to get a personal sense of what's going on inside a promoter's head, their needs and concerns. And you have to be able to demonstrate the additional elements an artist can bring to a performance - speaking to audiences, doing masterclasses, and giving pre-concert talks. Overall, there's much more of a need to tend artists' careers continually - there's been a big reduction in the number of old style long-term recording contracts offering major promotional support. That's another reason why we focus on the marketing and publicity elements of a career in-house.'
Travel opportunities are afforded even to recent young recruits. Helen Roden, PA to Peter Savory, bubbles enthusiasm for her tours and projects brief. 'The high point so far has to be travelling to Shanghai to help oversee concerts given by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was a great opportunity to prove myself.'
And it's clearly company policy to give young talent its head. In just 18 months Sam Rigby has gone from an expenses-paid intern to an associate artist manager, prominently involved in managing, for example, the Pavel Haas, Tokyo and Hagen string quartets. 'If you have determination and a feel for the job then this is the kind of place where you'll move forward. In some companies you just face a brick wall.
And the company marketing ethos is already ingrained. 'I don't like the idea of endlessly recycling the same sales patter. What you're trying to do is tailor your approach to suit the needs of each artist you're working for: it's never just diary-filling.'
Never mind the energy of youth, though. What's kept Stephen Lumsden involved and enthusiastic for over 25 years? 'The music, first and foremost. Hugely important still to me. But there's also the buzz you always get from being a catalyst in the creation of special musical moments. OK, there are times when the admin threatens to submerge you and you wonder why you're doing this, but there's such a sense of satisfaction in knowing you've had something significant to do in building a career.'
Interview reproduced by kind permission of Andrew Green & Classical Music , published 2 September 2006
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SHARP, NOT FLAT
Gig Magazine, November 2006
Profile: Stephen Lumsden
Intermusica may be 25 years old but the artist management firm remains as fresh and focused as ever.
It's all systems go at Intermusica. Founded a quarter of a century ago by the then 25 year-old Stephen Lumsden, the artist management company's tentacles extend beyond the traditional boundaries of the agency business to embrace composers, concert promotion and special projects. The biggest development of late however has been the establishment of a dedicated vocal and opera division - first under the aegis of John McMurray (poached from IMG Artists) and now headed by former Harrison Parrott agent Julia Maynard.
The singers list has been expanding at a rate of knots. Earlier this month, three names were added to the vocalists roster: those of gifted young South African bass Vuyani Mlinde, the mightily voiced mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick and Canadian lyric baritone Russell Braun. Opera conductor Giovanni Reggioli - a regular at Placido Domingo's Washington Opera - has also been signed up.
Given the strength of its conductor list (Marin Alsop, Martyn Brabbins and Richard Hickox are among those who call Intermusica home), creating a dedicated vocal and opera department was a logical step. But it also reflects a personal passion of Lumsden, who was himself a chorister at New College, Oxford.
'There's been a lot of talk in the business of late about the threat to the song recital,' Lumsden points out, 'and the thought that it might disappear is too awful to contemplate.
'Lied is never going to have mass-market appeal,' he continues, 'but Nicholas Sears - who was appointed in July as an artist manager in the vocal and opera department, after his successful first year as an associate - is very committed to developing opportunities for our singers in the recital arena.
'Singers' agencies tend to have a huge number of artists on their books but we want to try and develop careers as carefully and appropriately as possible,' Lumsden states. 'Eugene Ugorski is a case in point. He's a young violinist who studies in southern California. We found him through Valery Gergiev's concertmaster in Russia and we're convinced he is a major talent. We have just signed him for worldwide representation but we need to ensure his development is commensurate with the pressures of learning repertoire and the ideas he has for his own career progression. I want to make sure that he is not just thrown on the market.'
Such careful nurturing of talent has been an Intermusica hallmark and, for Lumsden, reflects the company's 'high-quality aesthetic: 'One of the artists we are most proud of is Leonidas Kavakos,' Lumsden says, referring to the prodigiously gifted Greek violinist and conductor. 'His career has absolutely been a slow burn but it has lifted off purely because of the quality of the music-making. He's built a solid base and is an example of the fact that quality will out if given enough ventilation. Even in this commercial business, cream rises to the top.
'We have always tried to look for artists who have something to say, we want to have a sense of personal investment in the manager-artist axis and want artists to see it as a partnership. That's the key to a really creative relationship and part and parcel of the way we do business.'
Lumsden's own background is emphatically musical. His father David was a professor of music at Oxford University (and later director of the Royal Academy of Music) who was knighted for his services to music. The family home was regularly visited by musical figures such as Tippett and Britten and Lumsden junior was soon studying piano, organ and bassoon before going on to private school where he learnt trombone and began conducting. After graduating from the Guildhall School, he joined Basil Douglas Ltd where he rose to become head of the artist management department but left in 1981 to establish his own agency. Intermusica now represents more than 45 artists and employs as many staff as it has marked years off the calendar.
In that time, Lumsden has seen significant changes to the arts management landscape notably in the chamber music sphere.
'Chamber music recitals still have a life but it's difficult out there,' he admits. 'The Germans have a few pretty decent chamber music series but the economics will often militate against it.
'Even 10 or 15 years ago in the UK, there wasn't a question mark over whether four musicians could make a living playing string quartets,' Lumsden adds. 'When I started, there were the Allegris, the Brodskys, the Lindsays, all out there doing 120 concerts a year. Today that is very, very hard to achieve. Compared with 20 years ago, chamber music is not that important terms of the economic mix.'
It hasn't stopped him from signing up some extraordinarily committed foursomes however - including the Alban Berg, Hagen, Tokyo and (most recently) Pavel Haas quartets - or working hard to promote them.
'The difference between being a manager and an agent is colossal,' Lumsden argues. 'I think when musicians have a strong artistic conviction that they totally believe in, it's our job to totally believe in them too while pointing out the pitfalls. Midori, for instance, has developed a voracious appetite for contemporary music. The artist has to express their creative aspiration - and we have to support that.'
Intermusica has long put its money where its mouth is, as its 1990s creation of the ongoing international chamber music series on London's South Bank testifies. It's also invested significant time and effort in special projects and concert promotion. It devised the hit British season at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw in 2004 and brokered the London Symphony Orchestra's new three-year residency at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.
It even secured maverick Austrian composer H K Gruber (whom it represents, along with composers Brett Dean and James MacMillan) a hugely successful stint at the Lucerne Festival this year - 'a catalyst for all sorts of opportunities', Lumsden suggests.
'We in artist management sit in a privileged position because we interface with every aspect of the music business,' he muses. 'That is an incredible opportunity and part of the fun of the job but it has to be moulded around your artists, which is a great responsibility. We need to be net contributors to music and the art form as a whole - but I genuinely believe that we can be a positive influence.'
Interview: Paul Cutts. Reproduced from Gig magazine with permission of Impromptu Publishing © 2006. All rights reserved. Visit Impromptu Publishing's website
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The Personal Touch
International Arts Manager, September 2003
For Intermusica good management is an intense mix of creativity, imagination and psychology, writes Mike Farish
The relationships between artists and managers, believes Stephen Lumsden, must never be merely routine. Instead, if they are to be of benefit - for manger as well as artist - they must be 'intense' in every respect. Only then will they serve their real function, which is not about securing bookings, but about 'strategic career development'.
For Lumsden this philosophy is the driving force behind the London-based artist management company Intermusica, which he set up just over 20 years ago and of which he remains managing director. 'I wanted to create a business that was about personal management and creative ideas,' he explains, adding that previous experience in the business had convinced him of the need for a new type of management company in which mutual involvement would be paramount.
That idea is now manifested in a company that employs 18 people and currently represents over 30 individual artists or ensembles including conductors Marin Alsop and Richard Hickox, cellist Mischa Masiky, Heinrich Schiff and four of the world's major string quartets: The Alban Berg, Chilingirian, Hagan and Tokyo.
The ability for artists and managers to engage in creative dialogue is hugely important. 'We have got to be able to discuss key elements such as repertoire,' confirms Lumsden. That does not, of course, involve telling artists what they can and cannot play, but it does mean giving frank advice. If, for instance, a conductor is not a Bruckner specialist then it would be folly to encourage them to play that composer's music with an orchestra that was thoroughly versed in the scores.
The aim has to be to create situations in which the artist has 'something to say'. Indeed, says Lumsden, repertoire is 'pivotal to career development'; no subject is more important.
This obviously has implications for the managers themselves. For a start they must have a detailed familiarity with the artform and with performance practice. Therefore, most of Intermusica's managers are themselves trained musicians. But that is only a start. If they are going to fashion an effective relationship with an artist then they must also be 'good at psychology'. As Lumsden concedes, being an artist manager is hugely demanding because it is a proactive, not a reactive, occupation that requires a good deal of creativity and imagination in its own right.
For Lumsden, this perspective raises another issue - that of matching artist to manager. This is, he confirms, a 'fundamental decision' that rests as much upon an appreciation of the likely chemistry between the two parties, as it does on more easily recognisable factors such as the manager's familiarity with the artist's repertoire.
The importance of that element of personal compatibility is something that Lumsden regards as crucial to the identity and practice of his company; so much so, in fact, that it has a bearing on the choice of the artists the company represents. Asked if he would turn down the chance to represent an artist, however talented they might be, if he felt their personality would be incompatible with the type of artist-manager relationship he regards as appropriate, Lumsden answer is unequivocal: 'Yes'.
So how does the company find the artists with which it can work effectively? The basic mechanics are unexceptional: 'People get recommended, they sometimes even just ring up,' says Lumsden. It is then a question of meeting and making a series of sometimes quite subjective judgements: 'Do they have musical depth? Are they intelligent and curious, not just about music but also about other things?'
Musical monomaniacs, evidently, do not appeal to Lumsden. Much more to his liking are individuals such as pianist Richard Goode, whom the company represents in Europe. 'He is as happy to talk about literature and the theatre as he is about music.'
One mechanism about which Lumsden is rather more circumspect, though, is that of selecting competition winners. 'I would never go to a competition and say that this is someone we have to have,' he notes. His attitude to the thought of committing in advance to representing a competition winner irrespective of who they are is completely negative. As far as he is concerned you might as well select artists 'by lottery'.
Ultimately, therefore, the key to effective artist management for Stephen Lumsden is 'believing in the people you represent'. 'We don't want to make acquisitions for any other reason,' he explains. 'After all, when you manage an artist you are not just managing their career, you are managing their life.'
International Arts Manager , September 2003
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Brit Parade
Classical Music Magazine, September 2003
The Amsterdam Concertgebouw is turning its entire winter season over to a celebration of British music and musicians. Andrew Green reports
Last year Radio 3 charmed us with its Dutch weekend. Now, as if in extravagant reciprocation, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw is staging a British season that is almost exactly what it says. The historic hall's entire winter programme (starting this month) is threaded through with British music and musicians - a staggering 70-plus concerts in all. To mention just appearances by the LPO, CBSO, Choir of King's College Cambridge, London Winds, Steven Isserlis and the Nash Ensemble seems invidious in the extreme. The project originated in discussions between Concertgebouw director Martijn Sanders and the London artist management office Intermusica, which is the season's 'programming partner', a role which includes dealing with the logistics for 16 large-scale orchestral concerts. How did the initial idea become such a vast reality? 'Well, we wanted to show the richness of British musical life,' says Sanders, 'not just in terms of composers but also the musicians. And the great thing is that we've been able to engage around 90% of the performers on our wish list - in projects of this kind, it's normally around 60%.
'Most Dutch music-lovers don't know a great deal about British composers - they're familiar with Britten and Elgar - and the latter only for the Enigma variations. Delius, Vaughan Williams and Walton, for example, aren't really known.'
I can't think of another hall in the world that would have taken this project on,' says Intermusica managing director Stephen Lumsden. 'It's a real tribute to the Concertgebouw. But my experience is that Dutch audiences are some of the most receptive and curious in the world.
'Among British participants, I'm especially delighted we've been able to get the Royal Opera on board. Normally its schedules are too tight to allow for something like this. We had to find an opportunity involving a piece that was already up and running and could be held together for an extra outing - Don Giovanni is the happy result. But one of the best things about the Concertgebouw season is the involvement of Dutch musicians. In Ton Koopman's Messiah, for example.
'There are of course extraordinary links between our two countries, both historically and in the present, especially in the commercial world. The musical and cultural links have always been extensive - many Dutch orchestras have British players, for example. And of course British television is viewed by many in the Netherlands.'
As if to prove the point a Dutchman, Leo Samama, has been commissioned to write a history of British music to coincide with the season. 'This music proved as worthwhile to study as French or German repertoire - and yet the British have only partial knowledge of their heritage! Some of my British friends helped me - composers like George Benjamin and Paul Patterson. There have been some surprises - Parry and his contemporaries I'd under-rated, and I didn't really know 16th-century composers like Fayrfax. A particular pleasure has been discovering the magnificent songs of Ivor Gurney. Last year I visited the Cotswolds, tracing his footsteps.'
The British season will also embrace education projects. Still in preparation are plans involving primary and secondary school pupils. 'These will include three collaborations with British orchestras and ensembles,' says Concertgebouw programmer Irene Witmer. 'But we also have plenty of events for grown-ups. Each year we have a so-called 'listening course', going through the history of classical music, with each lecture followed by a concert of appropriate music. British repertoire will be the subject of that course this year. There'll also be pre-concert talks given by figures in the British musical world.'
Dutch EMI is also in on the act, with a four-CD set of British music on release. 'We've chosen the tracks in consultation with my colleague Richard Abram in London, but also reflecting the schedule of the Concertgebouw season,' says Jeroen van Riel, product manager for EMI Classics in the Netherlands. 'The four CDs will be available for the price of one. We expect good sales, that the box will become a "wannahave".'
Even the most cursory look at the season indicates there has been no playing safe in repertoire terms. There are Dutch premieres of works by Colin Matthews and James MacMillan and the world premiere of Graham Fitkin's first piano trio, plus the inclusion of pieces by the likes of Turnage and Knussen. The Fitkin work is for Kathryn Stott, Janine Jansen and Christian Poltera. 'I've already written two or three pieces for Kathy, including a double piano concerto. The trio is a pretty big piece, very much written with her playing in mind - she's a performer who really goes for it. People tell me my music is very "British". One day maybe I'll sort out why they say that!"
What then of the hefty financial backing required for the season? 'It's a huge tribute to Martijn that the money has come together,' says Stephen Lumsden. 'We at Intermusica helped with the research - exploring the links between Dutch and British firms - but really this is all Martijn's work.
'We obviously looked for a sponsor for the whole project,' Sanders continues. 'But then the economy slowed down. So we came up with the idea of forming a consortium - and in fact this came together very swiftly. There are ten companies involved. We're lucky to have a large subscription audience at the Concertgebouw, which gives us a real advantage. Tickets for individual concerts went slowly to begin with - the economic situation means people book later and later. But things are picking up now.'
Classical Music Magazine , 13 September 2003
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