Exclusive: Leading British agent declares independence
mainOne of the leading directors at Intermusica, Maria Mot, has broken away with all 26 of her artists to form MWA Management.
Maria looks after, among others, Lise Davidsen, Danielle de Niese, Erin Morley and Iréne Theorin. The fact that all 26 artists are departing with her says much for her personal touch.
She has been with Intermusica for almost nine years and will continue an administrative relationship with the parent company in a so-called joint venture, one that mirrors that arrangements made by IMG with its many departing managers.
Maris says: ‘I wish to thank Intermusica, and all my colleagues there, for all the support I have received over the past eight years; I look forward to continuing to work closely with them. From the day I was born I’ve been immersed in the world of opera. My father was a bass and soloist at the Iasi National Opera in Romania so the local opera house was my playground and the staff my extended family. While still enjoying the support of my colleagues at Intermusica, MWA allows me to continue to honour those gifts given to me by my family and to ensure that legacy is multiplied many times over in helping to shape, support and guide the careers of those singers I’m fortunate enough to represent.’
Intermusica Chief Executive Stephen Lumsden said: ‘Maria has a passion for and deep knowledge of opera and has played a pivotal role in the careers of many outstanding singers during her time at Intermusica. Her entrepreneurial approach has always been a great asset and developing a venture of her own, whilst remaining closely connected to us, is a natural next step which we are delighted to support. We are happy that this partnership maintains a close collaboration with Maria and her artists, and look forward to the enhanced business possibilities that this venture will bring.’
Full artists list here.
Great timing…just when artists are all out of jobs.
Not quite ‘broken away’. This ‘new’ agency is really just another arm of Intermusica – even the staff of it have Intermusica email addresses.
Wonder if any of the controversial emergency Arts Rescue funding to Intermusica went into setting up this little venture.
I mean, Intermusica was in such bad shape, apparently, that it needed government money to save it – so, what does it do? It branches out.
When will this toxic, self-serving bubble pop?
Despite working in this industry, I just don’t understand this. An agent at Intermusica breaks away and starts a new management company working with…Intermusica? What’s really the point, other than causing confusion for all those artists moving from one named company to another??
When an agent does this, they are able to retain more of their commission and pay less to the company in question. In this case, it is more important for Intermusica to keep Maria at a decreased commission percentage than to lose her, and her artists, completely.