A stirring in the ruins of crashed UK artists agency

A stirring in the ruins of crashed UK artists agency

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norman lebrecht

March 24, 2020

The collapse of HazardChase on Friday has left dozens of artists without representation – now, or when life gets back to normal.

One agent has taken matters into her own hands and resolved to represent all the vocal artists on Hazard’s books.

Her name is  Camilla Wehmeyer, and she’s here to help.

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Many of you will have already heard that Hazard Chase Limited went into voluntary liquidation on Friday, as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. This came as deeply shocking news all round; a stark illustration of the fragility of the entire music industry. Nevertheless, we must find a way to move forward as best we can in this unprecedented climate of uncertainty.

In the wake of this news, I will, at least for now, be acting as sole agent for much of the Hazard Chase Vocal Roster, to offer some form of continuation and stability until things begin to settle.

I will be in touch as my roster develops, but in the meantime, if you have any correspondence regarding any singer from the Hazard Chase roster, please direct this to me. I will be using camillawehmeyer@gmail.com for now – please do keep in touch.

 

Comments

  • MDR says:

    She’s a first-rate agent, so thankfully the artists are safe in her hands.

  • MWnyc says:

    Does that include the singing ensembles (The Tallis Scholars, Vox Luminis, Roomful of Teeth, Polyphony) or just the soloists?

  • Robert King says:

    Camilla Wehmeyer is indeed a very experienced, respected and hardworking manager – taking on some 40 singers will keep her more than busy, but there are other equally excellent managers who worked at Hazard Chase, some for many years, who one hopes may be able to take on representation of other artists and ensembles from the former roster, and give some continuity. Very best of luck to Camilla and her singers.

  • Jk says:

    But so how does this work? An agency goes up in smoke and someone can just pick up the baton and decide to represent artists on their own? Please explain …

    • Robert King says:

      Though I’m not party in any way to what is going on, you can be sure that Camilla has worked carefully with the powers that be, and with the artists concerned, before making this announcement. To my (non-legal) mind, if an agency is no longer able to carry out its job of representing its artists (which sadly seems here to be the case) then the artists presumably are free (and need) to move elsewhere for representation. If someone they already know and trust is able to take on that mantle, that surely is the one of the best possible ways forward. There may be some shaking down in due course, but if the artists and the presenters they work with find some continuity from this sad business, not everyone loses everything – and that has to be a very positive move. All good fortune to Camilla and these fine artists.

      • Dominic Stafford Uglow says:

        There is unlikely to be artistic activity of any kind for many months yet. Camilla is basically undertaking the onerous task of making sure artists are paid in whole or in part for contracted work that has been cancelled. You should be thanking her.

      • Clive Harris says:

        No. I know of at least 4 singers who have heard nothing since Friday.

        • Robert King says:

          This lady is not going immediately to be able to achieve miracles: there is no work for freelance musicians out there at the moment. For the immediate future, seeing if any of the lost fees due to cancellations may in part be recoverable will take a lot of negotiation, back-tracking through contracts (all presumably contained in the now-closed Hazard Chase computer system – read below), and time.

          Camilla Wehmeyer gives her email, so you could be a useful conduit for these four colleagues of yours by passing this on to them. We all read in the announcement that the Hazard Chase computer system was suspended on announcement of the company’s voluntary liquidation, so it is possible that Ms Wehmeyer didn’t have these four artist’s contact details if they were not on her immediate roster whilst she was working at Hazard Chase.

  • Steven Mendler says:

    What happened to conductors than? No manager anymore?

  • rollYourOwn says:

    “has left dozens of artists without representation”

    They need to learn to create their own blog/website.

    • Robert King says:

      There’s hardly an artist or ensemble out there that doesn’t have a website, blog, Facebook, Instagram etc, but the managers are the people with the thousands of contacts of presenters, concert halls, festivals, opera companies, music clubs, concert series etc, plus the years spent creating relationships that lead to their artist winning the engagement over all the hundreds of other artists across the world vying for that same work. There is huge competition out there for work, thanks to a significant over-supply of highly talented singers and excellent orchestras and ensembles chasing an ever-decreasing pot of work and constantly reducing budgets (even in good times).

      Selling yourself into an engagement is not as simple as creating a website or blogging, then sitting back whilst the phone rings. If only it was!

      • NonZombie says:

        “over-supply of highly talented singers and excellent orchestras and ensembles chasing an ever-decreasing pot of work”

        No.
        You do NOT understand.
        The “pot of work” is ACTUALLY decreasing, because the audience hate the pretentious elitist garbage that is being served, by people congratulating themselves as being “highly talented singers and excellent orchestras and ensembles”.

        At this point your so-called “highly talented singers and excellent orchestras and ensembles”… are competing with computer-music… trying to be as precise and mechanical as a bloody computer. “Metronome-consooming professionals.”

        Nature always has a way of balancing things out. Let’s stop praising the artificial (artists managing companies).

  • It is a gallant move on your part, Camilla. May you also check our OperaUSA.org site and have your new and older artists sign in for further exposure? We launched a Directory for all artists involved in the fields of Opera and Musical Theater to include singers and non singers. Please check our site or contact Winston Vogel at winivogel@gmail.com for further details. It is a free service, just requires effort and time to sign in.
    We shall appreciate your attention and cooperation.
    Stay safe!
    Winston

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