International manager gives up his agency
mainThe classical industry veteran Stephen Wright has handed over his agency Wright Music Management, together with all its artists, to his deputy Alexandra Knight. The agency will be known in future as Knight Classical Ltd. Stephen Wright will continue working on his own projects and as a consultant to Knight Classical.
A former head of Harold Holt Ltd who went on to found IMG Artists, Wright later brought the former Van Walsum agency and recast it as his own company, which he is now moving on.
Alexandra Knight, 30, an Oxford music graduate, has been working with him for six years. She has raised new capital from a US hedge fund to secure the future of the business. The artists involved are:
Alena Baeva violin
Joseph Bastian conductor
Marc Coppey cello
Laurence Equilbey conductor
Moné Hattori violin
Stephen Kovacevich piano
Florian Leonhard violin-maker
Cem Mansur conductor
John Nelson conductor
Anna Tsybuleva piano
Hugh Wolff conductor
The business will become fully operational tomorrow at www.knightclassical.com
At least I know one of its artists, Stephen Kovacevich.
A senseless and pointless comment !!
That was a nice infomercial
What an odd roster of clients. And money from a hedge fund? That doesn’t sound good. Management should be about making money for the clients, not the management.
For clarification, Stephen Wright did not found IMG Artists! IMG took over Hamlen Landau management in New York and renamed it IMG Artists in 1984. Stephen Wright only became involved with the company around 1990 when he was a co-Director of Harold Holt. IMG Artists then opened a branch in London. A few years later it was on the point of taking over the entire Holt operation when Wright’s co-directors backed out. Wright then took his orchestral touring division and a few conductors over to IMG Artists. I believe eventually he became the head of IMG Artists Europe.
And then after years of abusing the expense account, things changed.
I used to work for Harold Holt Classical Music Agency in London for about 2 years as a typist, back in either it was late 70s or early 80s. Enjoyed the work very much.
Now I remember it was in the mid-80s. When musicians/orchestras that Harold Holt managed, used to come over from Europe to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, we used to get free tickets. I remember one of the Holt secs, Nina, took me backstage as the orchestra was getting ready to perform. They looked so lovely in their black suits. They used to wear tails then. I remember back then, I think it was Stephen Wright, not sure, who was there as well at Harold Holt. I always wonder what happened to everyone. I only remember the names of Nina (Hamburger?) Stephen, and Jeremy Skonke who operated the telex machine in our office. Such happy times.