International Conference Report 2007
IAMA International Conference : 12-14 April 2007
Report on IAMA's 17th International Conference held at the Royal College of Physicians, London
Message from the Conference Chair, Rachel Bowron, Vice-President of ICM Artists (now Opus 3 ARTISTS)
It was my privilege to chair this year's IAMA conference entitled, "Fighting for the Future" focusing on new venues that serve as the homes of music performance; new audiences that will fill our buildings; new music we offer audiences and the creative partnerships and collaborations we form to create a vibrant musical culture that will continue to develop and nurture a demand for live music. The sessions we presented were structured and designed to probe all the issues that would encourage the delegate's thinking on how music is to be sustained and developed over the next 50 years.
We were welcomed by the Barbican Centre and afforded a sneak preview of the Royal Festival Hall at the South Bank Centre before it opened its doors to the public in June. Visiting these venues brought to mind questions which we discussed including : Are these and other venerated concert halls central to our society and how we can continue to attract an audience when we face competition from other leisure time activities? We have come to accept that cramming multiple Beethoven Symphony cycles onto credit card sized machines is a reality, but it's worth considering whether the real time experience of hearing and seeing Beethoven performed live has been enhanced or compromised by such inventions.
Defining the future in a few short days was not the goal, nor would it have been possible. We only hoped to begin to frame the issues and to determine the core questions we may need to ask ourselves in the near future. It became clear during the conference that whatever the question, one response was dominant: We must rely on our capacity for adaptability. On some level, all of us have witnessed changes in our roles, whether we manage artists, institutions or venues. Over the past decade I have certainly seen my role evolve from that of simply representing an artist into facilitating a committed collaborative spirit between the agency, the artists we represent, and the institutions that engage them. If anything is certain, it is that the future will be different for each of us - less generalised perhaps - more specific to the place and people we are serving, and best managed by our own flexibility. Our legacy must be to develop a vibrant culture now where live music continues to be created, enjoyed and cherished.
My grateful thanks go to the hard-working committee members, Emma Sweetland, Sulivan Sweetland; Andrew Green; Ole Baekhoej, Gabrieli Consort; Emma-Jane Stokely, Konzertdirektion Schmid UK and Paul Hughes, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conference Report
This year's conference attracted record attendance with over 400 delegates. In line with Board policy, membership registration rates were lowered and non-member rates increased. Interestingly however, the statistics reveal that only 40% of delegates were from artist management companies. 50% were promoters/presenters with the remaining 10% drawn from a wide range of music interest groups.
Contrary to what one might believe, a London conference is never easy. The city is large, expensive and, surprisingly, has few venues to cater for our size of meeting. The question now being seriously debated is whether to limit numbers in future to avoid compromising delegates' experiences.
In line with our collaborative strategy, we were pleased to extend a welcome to the Deutscher Orchestertag members, as alliance partners. This partnership will continue next year at the Berlin conference, scheduled to take place at the famous Konzerthaus from 17-19 April 2008.
12 April 2007
Finding suitable content for discussion at the conference presents its own problems, but looking into the future and guessing where we should be heading is an even greater challenge. Brent Assink, Executive Director of the San Francisco Symphony, started the ball rolling with a keynote address focussing on the audience as our prime area of attention. "Fighting for the Future" may not be a new concept , but we ignore it at our peril.
Brent Assink then joined the panel session chaired by James Jolly, Editor-and-Chief of Gramophone Magazine with speakers, Costa Pilavachi, President of EMI Classics and Mark Friend, Head of Broadcasting Strategy, BBC. The panel agreed that the role of public broadcaster and traditional record company would always feature in the music world, even though boundaries will blur in some respects. According to Mark, the driving forces shaping the future media environment are:
- More choice and control - anytime, anywhere
- Helping people access and discover new content
- Encouraging participation
Immediately after the refreshment break, five 1960's red London buses sponsored by Air Charter Service PLC wended their way from the Royal College of Physicians to the South Bank Centre for a pre-opening tour of the Royal Festival Hall hosted by Michael Lynch, Chief Executive of the South Bank Centre and the music team, Marshall Marcus and Gillian Moore. This was followed by a buffet supper, sponsored by Musical America Worldwide, at the historic One Whitehall Place across the river Thames once home to the largest private library in Britain.
Friday 13 April
Toolbox sessions offer a much more practical experience compared to the general panel sessions. Time Management made a welcome return to the agenda and was facilitated by Emma Sweetland on Thursday 12 April with specialist consultant, Anne McDougall. This was followed by a further toolbox on 13 April entitled, Gadgets of Tomorrow and featured Paul Cutts, Editorial Director of Gig Magazine, Simon Wall, Intermusica and Andy Wilson, Project Leader, Future Now BBC Training and Development. The final toolbox was presented on 14 April focussing on Team Management with Tim Walker, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and facilitated by Jessica Ford of Intermusica.
Returning to the Friday schedule, the main morning session, Venues: Tomorrow's Expectations and Today's Challenge was introduced by Ole Baekhoej and moderated by Sarah Wilson, Managing Director, Innsbruck Festival. Speakers included, Matthias Naske, Director General, Philharmonie Luxembourg; Christopher Stager, Consultant, CRStager Marketing & Audience Development and David Staples from Theatre Projects Consultants Limited. Venues are not always places we can modify for our audiences overnight without an expensive make-over but what can be done to meet our audience's expectations? 
This was the theme explored from the new venue, of the Luxembourg Philharmonie where an entirely new audience was created with the opening of the impressive new halls. For David Staples, venues which best operate with people in mind, are the most successful. It is surprising that this is not always the starting point in today's new developments. Sometimes, the café and shopping facilities can be the important draw card in getting people through the doors! Certainly, for Chris Stager, understanding the human element within our performance spaces is about understanding life cycles and patterns that compliment the shared experience of the performance. Download Chris Stager's speech.
The Young International Performers programme enters its third year with three showcases held during the conference. Despite the very challenging acoustic offered by the Dorchester Library at the Royal College of Physicians all three showcases proved very popular with delegates, with all the artists rising admirably to the occasion. We were delighted to welcome for the first time one of the most recent members of the Young International Performers programme: Fondation Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud, who presented the First Prize winner of their most recent piano competition, Siheng Song. Baritone Johannes Weisser was presented by Rikskonsertene/INTRO Classical, and Young Concert Artist Trust presented "O Duo", the percussion duo formed by Oliver Cox and Owen Gunnell. Audience reaction to all three showcases was excellent, and representatives of the artists have reported many interesting projects in the pipeline as a result of the showcases.
The afternoon session entitled: Blueprint in Collaboration - Programming for Tomorrow was moderated by Paul Hughes. It asked questions such as: How should we be programming in the future and why do we collaborate? To answer these, he was joined by Janis Susskind, Publishing Director, Boosey & Hawkes Ltd, Robert van Leer, Head of Music, Barbican Centre and at the last minute, by Ronald Vermeulen, Artistic Administrator, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra who stood in for Jonathan Mills, Director, Edinburgh International Festival who had to cancel due to sudden ill-health. The issue which attracted considerable attention was co-commissioning and the process of collaboration when it involved a publisher.
The Barbican's Artist Director, Graham Sheffield, hosted a reception which was much appreciated by all the delegates. Given that the Centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary, it seemed fitting to also include a concert in the conference programme which, this year, was the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Delegates could also visit the exhibition of the Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto..jpg)
Saturday 14 April
Perhaps the highlight for many on this day was the interview by Andrew Green of the conductor, Marin Alsop. The orchestra of the 21st century is a relevant and potent reality of our future, according to Alsop, so long as the operative philosophy remained true to artistic excellence and creative presentation. This might involve a standard concert programme or even a multi-media presentation but a compromise will undermine the future. Alsop is an articulate communicator and she seems to possess a rare ease in connecting with any audience.
The closing session was led by Andrew Stewart, an independent journalist, who drew on the perspective of students from Chetham's School of Music, Jon Carvell, Andrew Gourlay and Aoife Nic Athlaoich, from the Royal College of Music. This was an experimental session which provoked some interesting reaction from the floor. The students, who were reflective on what they had heard during the conference and critical of perceptions we sometimes take for granted, presented their version of "Fighting for the Future" with some interesting paths being explored. Andrew Stewart's closing speech can be downloaded.
No conference would be complete without the closing Gala dinner, held this year in the Plaisterer's Hall, one of London's largest livery halls in the City. It was preceded by drinks sponsored by Konzertdirektion Schmid. Peter Schéle of the Stockholm Konserthuset was back by popular demand as Master of Ceremonies and the IAMA award went to Reinhard Goebel in recognition for his work with the now closed and once Affiliate member, Musica Antiqua Köln. Caroline Oakes of Clarion Seven Muses paid an eloquent tribute to Reinhard, a copy of which can viewed below.
Without the dedication and hard work of all those involved and loyal sponsors, this conference could never happen. We sincerely hope that we will see more members at the Berlin conference from 17-19 April at the Konzerthaus! Booking opens January 2008. The Conference Chair is Cornelia Schmid of Konzertdirektion Schmid.
Conference 2007 evaluation results
What are the top three most appreciated aspects of the conference?
- Business meeting opportunities
- Food and social aspect
- Venues
What do we need to do to improve delegates experiences?
- Make the digital photo facility more accessible
- More meeting space
The draw for the bottle of champagne for the first entry drawn went to Etienne Reymond of the Tonhalle Gesellschaft Zürich. Well done, Etienne!
IAMA Award 2007
Photo: Jens van Zoest
The IAMA award is only given occasionally and to exceptional people who offer an inspirational example to others.
This year, the award was given to Reinhard Goebel who received the award at the gala dinner of the 17th international conference in London held in the Plaisterer’s Hall on 14 April 2007.
Caroline Oakes (Clarion 7 Muses) paid tribute to his work before IAMA’s Chairman, John Willan, handed over the award which was, this year, an inscribed ship’s decanter.
Here follows her tribute:
REINHARD GOEBEL: ADDRESS TO THE IAMA CONFERENCE
The IAMA award is only given rarely to an artist and only when the Association feels there is someone unique and really special to be honoured. The first was given to Mirella Freni in 2004 and tonight we are awarding the second to the baroque violinist, now conductor, Reinhard Goebel.
Reinhard Goebel is probably not someone who is very well known to the majority of people who are here tonight. He is not someone who has courted publicity or been hyped by the media. He has always been somewhat of an outsider, although a very influential one, in the Early Music world.
He founded Musica Antiqua Koln in 1973 and I was privileged to start representing him shortly after he signed an exclusive contract with DG Archiv in 1978. A chance remark by Dr Holschneider of DG at a John Eliot Gardiner session I was attending led me to make enquiries and I was delighted when Reinhard agreed that Clarion should work for him. But his reputation among Early Music connoisseurs was already growing because of his first recordings and I remember being quite astonished that the Queen Elizabeth Hall was packed for their debut recital here soon afterwards. The feeling of excitement in the audience was palpable.
Over the years Reinhard Goebel consolidated his status as one of Europe’s most important exponents of Early Music, especially as an authority on the German baroque repertoire. He opened the ears of music lovers to previously unknown German composers pre Bach: Scheidt, Hausmann, Schmelzer, Fasch, Biber, Zelenka, Heinichen, as well as Italians such as Marini and Veracini, to name but a few. His recordings of standard repertoire were considered revolutionary, even shocking, with their speed, their clarity and their often breathtaking phrasing. Musica Antiqua Koln received many of the world’s most prestigious record prizes, including several Gramophone Awards. World-famous vocalists have joined him on many of these recordings: Anne Sofie von Otter, Barbara Bonney, Christine Schafer and Magdalena Kozena among them.
But working with a genius is not always easy. Many well-known Early Music artists started their careers under his direction but then left to form their own ensembles: Charles Medlam and Ingrid Seiffert of London Baroque, Concerto Koln’s Werner Ehrhard and Andrea Keller, the keyboard player Andreas Staier and many others. But even with its personnel in a seemingly constant state of flux, MAK never lost its cutting edge supremacy.
And working as an agent for a genius can be difficult too! My colleague Andreas Braun and I have shared many quite stressful moments! MAK concerts were always exciting, not least because Reinhard Goebel frequently changed his programme at the last moment, announcing this from the platform! I remember quite a fraught occasion when they were engaged at the Edinburgh Festival but left their music behind in a German airport. The director, John Drummond, was certainly not much amused but it is a mark of his respect for Reinhard and his ensemble that when he became Director of the BBC Proms he offered them a Royal Albert Hall concert.
For me, the greatest proof of his genius was when in the early 90s he suffered problems with the nerves and muscles of his left hand. A lesser musician would have given up playing but not Reinhard. He learned to play both violin and viola the other way round, holding his instrument with his right hand, and within a year was back on the concert platform.
Now times have changed, Early Music on original instruments is now commonplace, he has put down his violin for ever, Musica Antiqua Koln, a long-standing IAMA member, has been disbanded and Reinhard Goebel is now forging a new career as a conductor, both in the opera house and with modern orchestras. He has directed a cycle of all the Monteverdi operas in Hanover, conducted Handel in Freiburg and Copenhagen and most recently in Mannheim he has resurrected “Catona in Utica” by Piccini , a hitherto little known Italian contemporary of Haydn .
Engagements with symphony orchestras have included the Royal Philharmonic here, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and all the major German radio orchestras.
He is passing on his enormous knowledge to young players who try to recreate an authentic Early Music sound on their modern instruments, while also training young conductors in early repertoire. This will be his unique legacy to the music world and it is therefore with the greatest pleasure that I endorse this decision by IAMA to honour Reinhard Goebel. I will now hand over to our Chairman, John Willan, to make the presentation.