Archives for February 2009

Hm, I wonder why Brooklyn Vegan didn't mention Hilary Hahn at SUNY Purchase and Hélène Grimaud a the 92 Street Y as possible competition for this weekend's "fancy seated shows". I'm sure both Hilary and Hélène's recitals will also include seven musicians, three dancers, choreography, and costumes, so David Byrne really shouldn't be surprised when no when shows up to see him at Radio City. … [Read more...]

I am working in the Amtrak waiting area for ticketed-passengers-only of Penn Station (without a ticket, but I convinced the guard he should let me stay because I'm expecting someone who does have a ticket), waiting for my friend Josh to come in from D.C.. There is classical music playing on every speaker, but I have no idea what it is. How lovely it would be if there was a nice screen somewhere, like they have in Starbucks-es, telling us all what the piece is and which orchestra/soloist is playing it. I suppose this isn't Penn Station's battle … [Read more...]

This week, veritable performing arts marketing *celebrity* Thomas Cott on what it's like to work for one of the few international dance brands, the when and where's of publicist self-promotion, and being a jack of all trades. Thomas Cott is the Director of Marketing for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary. He has worked on approximately 120 plays and musicals for Broadway and Off-Broadway houses, as well as on 40 opera productions in New York. He is a founding staff member of Lincoln Center Theater, … [Read more...]

OneI only got DVR about a month ago (not unrelated to Lost's return), so it's still new and fascinating to me. Since I'm fast-forwarding all those commercials that advertisers paid lots of money for, I wonder if there will be a movement to produce television commercials in slow-motion with words on the screen so they are most effective while being fast-forwarded. Similarly, do commercial creators now film commercials using similar tones/filters/settings as the TV shows during which they will be played? Like in magazines, when often the ad … [Read more...]

You learn something new from other publicists every day. From here on out, I'm going to craft press releases with this in mind, from Gawker:Our totally unsolicited press release of the day has arrived! "Hello, as Julie Henderson's publicist, I've read some unflattering blogs calling her a 'high fallutin' call girl' and a 'golddigger,'" it begins. There's more! Julie Henderson comes from a good family. Her grandfather Samuel Henderson invented the Henderson grapefruit in the 1960's and built an empire in Texas . She has been modeling for the … [Read more...]

After discussing the recent Onion article entitled "If Itzhak Perlman Is Performing On TV Right Now, Who is Feeding My Cat?" (thanks, Denise) at lunch yesterday, my friend Maureen and I debated who was more famous: Itzhak Perlman or Yo-Yo Ma. I argued for IP, and she for Yo-Yo.Post King's Singers' concert in Princeton last night, I decided to obtain some hard evidence on the subject and polled three male Woodrow Wilson School students at the Dbar. "Name a classical musician" was my test. Two out of the three said Yo-Yo Ma. (The third proudly … [Read more...]

I was sitting in the last row of the orchestra at Alice Tully last night and, at one point during a performance, the woman to my left leaned back and loud-whispered to an usher, "There's someone taking pictures down there!", gesturing to her right dramatically. No sooner had the dutiful usher trotted off to investigate the situation did the woman to my left whip out her iPhone and take a photo herself.Bold, madam. [That would be seat Z104, if anyone from Lincoln Center is reading.] During the final bows, my tricky left-neighbor took another … [Read more...]

This week in interviews-with-people-who-know-more-than-me-land, we have jazz pianist and composer Dan Tepfer on blowing off astrophysics for music, putting on concerts that actually speak to young people, and the difference between coconuts and peaches. Dan Tepfer is a New York-based jazz pianist and composer. Originally from Paris, France, he earned a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, before settling down in the United States. Today he divides his time between sideman work with some of the great jazz … [Read more...]

I live in envy of the Performance Monkey. That is, David Jays, fellow ArtsJournal blogger and Sunday Times and New Statesman critic. I enjoy his writing and his subjects very much, but I truly resent his ability to market himself within the world of ArtsJournal. After we submit an entry to our own ArtsJournal blog, bloggers have the option of posting a teaser on the ArtsJournal homepage with a heading and sentence-long description. My last teaser was Embracing Excess: Would offering all-you-can-see cards help fill empty seats?. The challenge … [Read more...]

[If someone's already doing this, stop me now; or, at least, post a comment and tell us all.]Perhaps it's just me, but everywhere I turn in this city there's an all-you-can-eat special. I blame/credit The Recession/People Getting Fatter. Would an all-you-can-see card work for concert presenters? I'm not sure how pricing for something like that could be figured out, but I do like the idea of paying for a card at the beginning of the season, getting week-of or day-of e mails when performances haven't sold out, and then sitting in the available … [Read more...]

I've always wondered how products get placement within other products' ads. For example, 30 Rock is in featured in both Netflix and Hulu ads: The iPod print and television ads not surprisingly drive me nuts: how do they choose which artists' songs and cover art to feature on the Nano, etc. screens in their ads? I've certainly never seen a classical album featured...Which is why I was pleasantly surprised and impressed to see pianist Simone Dinnerstein's new album cover on the eMusic subway and MetroNorth ads:I asked her publicist if she or … [Read more...]

New York City subway stations are, in theory, prime for marketing because they're unavoidable; most of us need them to get from point A to point B, multiple times each day. That said, beyond standing and waiting for trains to come, people aren't paying attention to their surroundings when walking from outside-to-train-to-train-to-outside. Consequently, ads in subway stations have to be extreme enough to warrant stopping one's sprint-walk, pausing one's iPod, and possibly missing the next train. Two friends and multiple strangers e mailed and … [Read more...]

I received an e mail from a woman at the UK-based management company Harrison Parrott this morning, and this was under her title/phone number/address in her auto signature:News Flash: The BBC Symphony Orchestra have just announced Oliver Knussen as their new Artist in Association, the three-year appointment consolidating his long relationship with them as a composer and conductor. Full press release >>  More news >>I assume everyone at Harrison Parrott changes their signature as news about their artists comes in, and I think … [Read more...]

I went to buy tickets to So Percussion on the Joe's Pub website, and this was the show description: So PercussionPrice: $12 9:30 PM - March 12  Show Description A one-year New York Magazine subscription, a $9.97 value, will be included with your ticket purchase for this show! Feel free to click here for more information. Brooklyn-based percussion quartet, So Percussion, who Billboard calls "astonishing and entrancing" and the New York Times calls "brilliant", will be performing selections from their ongoing project City Music, an … [Read more...]