The classical music business goes back to school
NewsAs of this morning, the biggest classical artists agency is located in a school building on the wrong coast of America.
The weekend acquisition of London’s AskonasHolt agency by San Francisco Conservatory of Music means that, added to its prior purchase of Opus3 in New York, the school now manages more talent than any traditional classical business, with hundreds of artists under contract. SFCM also owns the Pentatone record label in Holland. And it still has plenty of Getty money to spend.
So what happens next?
From January 1, AH’s CEO Donagh Collins will have oversight of both agencies. In March David Foster will retire from Opus3 and, despite denials from both agencies, a slow merger will be effected with some human economies on both sides. That’s just music business as usual.
Where the deal becomes interesting is two years down the road when SFCM’s president David Stull (pictured) has to show his board the benefits his radical school-owns-business model brings to the core function of turning out better musicians. and that’s not quick or easy.
SFCM does not yet have access to the quality of faculty and students that gravitate to Juilliard and Curtis, drawn in the first instance by a fading legend and, in the second, by free tuition and living costs. Overcoming those rivals could be achievable with limitless funds, and SFCM is already making inroads. But it will need to emblazon some big-name teachers on the masthead – and that’s where the agencies come in. They have pull with the kind of performing stars who can make SanFran a magnet for gifted teens who are dazzled by the prospect of being taught by, say, the latest Chopin or Cliburn winners rather than, say again, someone who taught a Cliburn winner 30 years ago. Imagine a Joyce DiDonato or Anne-Sophie Mutter seminar, a Simon Rattle masterclass. Why bother again with the East Coast?
If AH and Opus3 can deliver bill-topping teachers, the SFCM model will triumph and the rest of the music business will need to move faster than it has ever done before.
Watch, as ever, this space.
East is east and West is west and never the twain shall meet. The best that could happen here is revival of the wonderful CAMI Community Concerts….as far a celebrity teacher’s salaries are concerned when you spend it fast you lose it fast and then you’re back to square one.
That makes little sense. What has this to do with Community Concerts, which was a true monopoly? And are you implying that “celebrity” teachers cannot save money?
wrong on both counts mr sourcream
Job losses on the cards for certain at Asoknas and Opus 3 and inevitable drops in service for artists. As we’ve seen time and time again from conglomerate-style agencies.
This stinks of empire building from Stull. Who is holding these people to account??
teaching in conservatory and give master classes are completely different story…a great musicians ( Mutter…as example ) can spend only few days in her schedule to give a master classes….to forge a great and potential soloist, the students need a constant and regular lesson, great teacher usually sit permanently in a class. For this reason it make no sense, in my view, for a conservatory to own such a big agency with the hope to have great stars/artist to “teach”
I’ve seen stars give inspiring master classes, discovering major talent, as with Birgit Nilsson; I’ve seen others give mediocre ones. Some are mostly to entertain the audience, with funny asides and anecdotes. In fact, there’s a regular routine they would follow, at least in NYC, but the students didn’t always learn. I performed in one, and played so well, the artist had nothing to say but good job. Well, that was something, anyway.
A huge amount of talent never goes to Juilliard, Curtis, or the San Francisco Conservatory. Joyce DiDonato, who you sight above, absolutely didn’t. Renee Fleming didn’t. In fact, comparatively, for several musical disciplines, many more don’t than do.
When I attended Manhattan School of Music, it was well-known, to us at least, that the school had superior faculty in many departments. Juilliard was a factory, like Indiana, with lots of technically adept students, and few artists. Highly competitve, and miserably unmusical. But Juilliard students got 90% of the free-lance work, and then blackballed anyone not a Juilliard student.
It’s kind of sad that the three conservatories mentioned, San Francisco, Curtis and Julliard, are all located in dirty, crime-ridden cities filled with druggies and homeless people. San Francisco is not a nice place anymore. What other city has a phone app where people report human feces locations so you can avoid it?
A few years ago literally just two hours after landing in SF for the first time, I witnessed a homeless person taking a dump in a parking area near a beach. I’m from NY but never witnessed anything like that. I guess people in SF are more open…
It’s partly because N.Y. sent their homeless out to CA with bus passes, thank you very much. This has been well documented. And just like N.Y. back east, you run into a great big ocean out west.
You see what you want to see, I guess…
Achieving “synergies” has been the road to hell for the rationale of far too many acquisitions, across all industries. And we know how that story almost always ends.
I suspect some people are going to learn this reality in a new industry that has not previously fallen victim to this mindset.
“….the wrong coast of America.”
Says you.
This is such an interesting story! Even if luring world-class performers as teachers (to eventually entice students) were the justification for acquiring Opus3 and Askonas Holt, it seems that such performers could be simply offered visiting professorship fees sufficient to command their attention, rather than taking ownership of these agencies. There is likely a much larger plan being executed here. What it is, and how it will benefit students at SFCM is not entirely clear from the outside, at least not to this observer. Will continue to pay close attention, though!
As if classical music didn’t have enough corruption! We are hungry for more!!!
Perhaps the goal is to push SFCM students to solo for conductors and ensembles managed Opus3 and Askonas and now cotrolled by SFCM itself. That kind of pipeline would attract many students, as opposed to mega star performers who are rarely good teachers (e.g. Heiftez)
If SFCM is going to move in this direction, it’d best consider defraying in some way the extreme cost of housing in SF where 1-bedroom apartments routinely rent for $3,500/mo.
The beneficiaries:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03385237/officers
A school trying to be something it was never intended to be with zero regard for the greater profession.
Boy, there’s a politician’s smile if there ever was one.
Monopoly, anyone? This is a clear case of conflict of interest. It’s hard to see how it even makes sense. And San Francisco already has or had a major agency, so why didn’t they acquire that one? The conservatory does not go beyond a master’s degree, which is their first problem. They would have to import salaried faculty in many departments, as members of the SFSO cannot all be expected to be top-notch teachers. SF already has a very competitive environment for working musicians, and at least three orchestras to fill, but most conservatory graduates are going to be teachers. They can compete with Colburn and USC, perhaps, and supply the western states. But San Francisco itself is a very small city. And the amount of work for musicians there has dropped terribly due to Silicon Valley people. How much money did Getty give them? If they do go all-scholarship including room & board, and import enough top-notch faculty, they can compete with the other top schools, and they are closer to Asia, after all. Maybe they are after all the Chinese students, which would impact the Curtis Institute somewhat.
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