Biz news: Exodus swells at Columbia Artists
mainThe vice-president of Columbia’s opera department, Damon Bristo, has quit to become director of artistic administration at Opera Theatre of St Louis. He starts work next month, leaving a raft of premier singers semi-agentless at the shedlike company.
Also on the move is former Doug Sheldon artist Nelson Freire. He has gone to Opus3.
In other St Louis news, the soprano Patricia Racette joins Opera Theatre as artistic director of Young Artist Programs.
O give me the days of Zemsky and Green and the illustrious Matthew Epstein
CAMI are promoting Nathan Wentworth to VP. He was as assistant a few years ago, but hasn’t managed anyone on his own. CAMI are hoping artists of Bristo will stay with him.
Great move for Damon and OTSL, an exciting trajectory for both. I’ve been a client of Damon’s for the last 4 years, and I could not have been happier. As good as things were, when Nathan Wentworth joined the company, everything got even better. I called Damon and Nathan “my two-headed monster”. This is my personal experience and I cannot speak for others, but I believe that Nathan Wentworth is poised to become the best manager in the country. Yes I like the taste of grape-flavored Kool-aid, especially when it tastes this good. I have worked with a few truly terrible managers in the past, and I consider myself lucky to have survived.
I knew Damon a few moons ago when he was a Tower Records employee. This meteoric ascent says so much about the state of the industry.
This.