Some things about Christine Brewer

I went to Christine Brewer‘s Zankel (Carnegie) Hall recital tonight and now, over a glass of strawberry milk, I will tell you what it made me think about. Spoiler Alert: it’s marketing and PR.

1. One of, if not the, best things about working at IMG Artists was getting to meet the clients in a non-formal setting when they came into the office. I’m not sure if he remembers, but I remember Eric Owens coming in and suggesting we rearrange the furniture in the lobby. I was all-too-happy to offer my two…dollars…on the lobby design, as was my friend Mark from the Vocal Division. I also remember washing my hands next to Renée Fleming in the Ladies Room and uncharacteristically trying not to look her in the eye because I was wearing something stupid that day and she was the real-deal glamorous. And I think Hilary baked cookies for everyone at one point? Regardless, it was fun to interact with the artists in the office, because then you’d go to a concert later that night and remember Joshua Bell talking about how he had spent all morning at the Apple Store. I never met Christine Brewer, though she is represented by IMG, so what was amazing about her performance tonight was that I felt like I had met her, many times. I’m not going to say she was “warm and natural on stage” because that is an understatement; I actually felt like she was practicing her recital in my apartment and we’d known each other for a decade. When a mutual friend introduced us backstage, he said to her, “You’ve met Amanda, right?” I actually almost said “yes”! Can you imagine? I had in no way met this woman and I was almost like, “Oh yeah, we’ve met. Many times.” I write a lot on this blog about how marketing and publicity materials need to make the artists seem accessible, but there’s really no substitute for an artist actually being that accessible in live performance.

2. I like a lot of concerts, but I rarely want to hear them again right after I’ve experienced them. This one, though, I would have bought and could have been re-listening to as I type now. “Bought,” you ask? Recently, bands have been selling the MP3s from their live shows right after they happen. I realize this gets more complicated when the music is not written or owned by the artist, but that is something I would be more willing to purchase than a CD, even if the CD was of the exact same repertoire.

3. It is ironic that skinny women get fancy recording deals because, erm, that’s when the music is supposed to be heard and not seen? Yes yes, I know all about “the whole package,” but that doesn’t make it any less ironic.

4. Christine (first name-basis, because as you know, we’ve met many times before) sang an encore about a review of an opera singer’s Carnegie Hall recital at her Carnegie Hall recital! M-E-T-A Meta Meta woooo! Carnegie is going to post the name of the piece and composer tomorrow. The piece was Celius Dougherty’s “Review”. There was a genius line about the singer’s recital partner. It wasn’t “able” or “reliable”…but something like that. I’m sure it will be mentioned in the review. Zing!