This Saturday, January 15, I’ll be rolling out of bed to moderate a Chamber Music America panel about presenting new music. The esteemed panelists are composer Nico Muhly, publicist Christina Jensen, and the Chiara String Quartet. The panel is at 9 a.m., heaven help me, and the scene in my apartment that morning will be something akin to this:
Here’s the official description:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 15
9:00 A.M. (uugggggggg)-10:15 A.M.New Music and Your Audience
Ambassador I, 2nd floor
Westin Hotel, Times Square – New York City
Your ensemble is deeply committed to the music of our time. But your enthusiasm in itself isn’t enough to guarantee success. You have to convince presenters and listeners to see things from your perspective. How can you create interest in the new and unfamiliar in anticipation of your performance–and sustain it through the performance itself?MODERATOR Amanda Ameer, publicist, First Chair Promotion
Gregory Beaver, cellist, Chiara Quartet
Christina Jensen, publicist, Christina Jensen PR
Nico Muhly, composerDEMONSTRATION Chiara String Quartet
For more information on the Chamber Music America conference, click here.
Mimosas will not be served, but coffee will be drunk. I need to come up with my questions, but I intend to start the conversation basically with the premise of this blog: that is, who owns the problem of building an audience for new music? And if we all just push around ownership of the problem rather than working together efficiently at different stages of a project, how can we ever hope to sell tickets and grow fanbases?