Cliburn 2009: May 22 - June 7
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closeSunday, Jun. 07, 2009
Standing out is the key to success for Cliburn competitors who leave empty-handed
By ALYSON WARD
dfw.com
The last of the Cliburn competitors will leave town today. For the three weeks they’ve been in Fort Worth, the 29 phenomenally talented young musicians at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have vied — and practiced and prayed and sweated and longed — for the exposure and recognition that could jump-start their emerging careers.
After three rounds of high-stakes, high-pressure competition, a handful of these young pianists are leaving with prizes, professional management and guaranteed concert tours. But most are going home empty-handed, and they’ll return home to book performances and build careers on their own in a field that’s getting tougher every year.
Even though they’re among the finest young performers in the world, these pianists face a terrifying challenge. In the classical-music world, an ever-growing field of talented musicians is clamoring for the attention of a shrinking, more distracted audience, and it’s not enough anymore to simply be remarkably talented.
In order to stand out and get attention, you also have to be savvy about marketing yourself.
"It’s too crowded a marketplace, and there are fewer opportunities every year for classical musicians," says Maria Guralnik, the Cliburn’s general manager. And to stand out, young musicians need to make a connection to audience members.
"You have to have the entire package," Guralnik says. And that means developing a distinct voice and putting it out there for people to see.
This year’s Cliburn competitors — the ones who didn’t win — are at a critical point in their careers. Now that they’re leaving an international competition that could have opened a big door in their careers, what sort of future lies before them? And what will they have to do to succeed?
One thing we know: They can’t just keep up the good work and expect to be noticed. Playing well doesn’t set you apart in today’s industry.
"The only thing that will happen if you [merely] play well," Guralnik says, "is you’ll get a few dates with a few discerning concert presenters worldwide who have 60 people in their audiences."
Instead, it takes marketing. It takes know-how. And it takes a lot of creativity.
'Dead zone’ between 23 and 35
Jade Simmons has mastered the art of building a career in this new, updated industry. And one look at her Web site shows that she has put some real thought into how to make her Barber and Rachmaninoff appeal to a wider audience.
"Think you know classical music?" says the multimedia intro to her site, jademedia.org. "Think again. Relevant. Passionate. Hip. The revolution is here and her name is Jade."
The 31-year-old pianist was the host of this year’s Cliburn webcast, but she also has a busy career as a performer. And she knows how hard it can be to build a career in classical music.
Simmons, who auditioned for but didn’t make the 2005 competition, points out that many of the Cliburn competitors are at an awkward stage in their careers — too old to be prodigies, too young to be established and experienced.
"Twenty-three to about 35 is the dead zone," Simmons says. "It’s, if you weren’t amazing at 16, why should I listen to you now? And if you aren’t 45 and experienced, why should I listen to you?"
Simmons has overcome that by finding a niche. As a former Miss Illinois — she played Chopin in the 2000 Miss America pageant and was first runner-up — her résumé captures attention already. And she has thrown herself into advocacy projects and efforts to support young musicians, projects that help her career and classical music.
Simmons has also been bold about trying new things. On her new album, Revolutionary Rhythm, released in March on Koch International Classics, Simmons has blended classical selections with an emphasis on rhythm and elements of hip-hop.
"To me it was the most organic program in the world," she says, and it can appeal to audiences that are traditional, like the Cliburn’s, or to listeners who are younger or new to classical music.
"It’s a changing time," Simmons says. "I always say we’re competing against the remote control."
Simmons understands that some classical musicians are reluctant to market themselves.
"They’ve been told classical music is a high art form, that it’s about the music," she says. "So they’re worried about not looking serious or looking like they’re not about the music. I think you can be about the music and be about the promotion."
Simmons has tried to come up with ideas that please audiences, but that are still authentic. She’s assembling, for instance, a program called Spice. Easily packaged and easily promoted, it’s still seriously musical: it’s a program of variations — Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rachmaninoff’s Corelli variations and others.
While a program called Spice can attract attention, she says, "it’s still about the music and it’s a genuine reflection of a repertoire that I love."
Soyeon Lee, who competed in this year’s Cliburn, has professional management and a new CD called Re!nvented, released in April. Passionate about recycling, Lee came up with a gimmick that will make her instantly identifiable. Her CD is packaged in cases made from recycled potato-chip bags. And for her 2008 debut at Carnegie Hall, she wore a dress she’d had made from 6,000 recycled juice pouches.
"It’s good as a marketing tool for her," says Steve Wehmhoff, director of label management and classical music for E1 Entertainment, the label that released Lee’s and Simmons’ albums. "She’ll get ink on it. They’ll say, 'Soyeon Lee, she’s the juice-pouch artist.’ But she doesn’t want to be known as that. She wants to be known as Soyeon Lee the really great pianist." The recycling gimmick, though, Wehmhoff says, can help get her there.
This year’s Cliburn musicians face a tough road. But if they’re creative, the opportunities for a solid career are out there, Wehmhoff says. Musicians should think about ideas that suit their personality but still attract attention.
"It’s maybe not necessarily a gimmick," he says. "It should be a sincere thing." Making, say, every fifth concert a benefit for a specific charity is a good way for a musician to get attention, promote music and support a good cause at the same time. Other artists, he suggests, might build a fan base by finding their audience — and connecting directly — on the Web.
Regardless, he says, it’s absolutely necessary for young classical musicians to try something more. If the Cliburn doesn’t launch their careers, they may have to come up with something new and innovative. And, yes, do a little marketing.
"The artists who are ahead in that game," he says, "are the ones who will have a long career."
ALYSON WARD, 817-390-7988
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