How to get ahead in the classical music career

Insights of the manager Maxim Belčikov

What is the best way to approach agents and managers? How to find performance opportunities? What does it take to succeed as a classical musician today?

Maxim Belčikov, general manager of O/Modernt, former Senior Manager at HarrisonParrott and former Director of Performance at Bärenreiter-Verlag, answers these and many other questions about the classical music industry.

Here are the main takeaways from this conversation:

• It is important build a network of contacts and work with agencies to secure performances, but you can also appreciate the freedom to approach specific individuals and venues directly. It's important to be proactive in finding performance opportunities and to have a strong vision. 
• When making contact, it's helpful to be brief, inviting, and provide a good reference or referral. These principles apply not only to orchestra management, but also to musicians seeking performance opportunities.
• Musicians can organize their own concerts and approach promoters, concert organizations, and venues to find performance opportunities. It's important to be brief and not overwhelming with information, provide specific and relevant references, and have a good reason for contacting a particular venue or promoter. It can take time to build relationships. It's important to be direct and know why you want to talk to certain people.
• Success in the music industry depends on a combination of factors. These include good teachers, participation in competitions, and influential relationships. But it's also important that you have a high level of skill and are able to reach and touch people with your music. Entrepreneurial thinking, knowledge of marketing and promotion, and a strong personality can also be important factors for success.
• Musicians and organizations can build meaningful relationships with their audiences by sharing interesting and relevant content, including stories about themselves, their work, and their values. Social responsibility and a strong personal brand can also be important in building a successful career in the music industry.
• As a musician in today's world, it's important to have an online presence. With so many platforms and social media options, it's important to find the right channels to effectively promote yourself and connect with your audience. Self-promotion isn't a bad thing, but it's important that you do it in a smart and interesting way.
• It's important for musicians to offer something meaningful and authentic. In a field where there are countless talented musicians with impressive technique, it's important to have something that makes you stand out from the crowd. This can be your personality, your energy, or something special that defies description. It's also important to think about what you can convey through your music, because people will quickly lose interest if they feel you have nothing to say.

• One way to attract new audiences is through interactive and engaging concert formats that go beyond simply performing on stage. These could include pre-concert talks, post-concert discussions, book signings at CD, and late-night concerts with informal and interactive performances.

• While it may not be possible to attract all people who listen to classical music on platforms like Spotify to live concerts, it's important to reach a broader audience and make classical music more accessible and inviting to people who may be intimidated by traditional concert formats. By creating interactive and engaging concert experiences and using social media and other online platforms to connect with audiences, it's possible to attract new fans and allow classical music to thrive in the digital age.

• For young musicians looking to build their careers and gain more performance opportunities, it's important to be prepared for the realities of the music industry. While it may be tempting to focus solely on becoming a soloist, the reality is that only a small percentage of musicians will reach that level of success. Instead, it's important to expand your skills and focus on building a well-rounded career. This may include learning languages, traveling, learning about the music business, playing chamber music, and playing in orchestras.

• Networking and building relationships is also critical to success in the music industry. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and if you're a talented musician and have a good reputation, people will take notice. To be successful, you need to be not only skilled and talented, but also smart, savvy, entrepreneurial, open-minded, innovative, and creative.

• Finally, it's important that you're personable and sincere when dealing with agents, managers and concert promoters. Simply sending generic emails to a list of contacts is unlikely to be successful. Instead, take the time to research and find connections and common ground, and be genuine and authentic in your communications. By following these tips and actively advancing your career, young musicians can increase their chances of success in the competitive world of classical music.

Transcript

IG: It is nice to welcome you Maxim

MB: Thank you for the invitation.

IG: Tell us a little about yourself – who you are, what you do, and how you connect with classical music.

MB: I am the general manager of O/Modernt, I work for the orchestra, for Hugo Ticciati and for the O/Modernt Foundation in Stockholm.

I was born in Russia, I grew up in the Czech Republic. I started with music (classical guitar) as a professional musician. Then, just before I graduated from college, I decided to focus more on a management career. 

I first managed a small guitar festival in Prague and then I was lucky enough to end up at the music publishing house Barenreiter, where I worked for almost 10 years. 

Then I moved to London and worked for the arts management company HarrisonParrott for four years, and then I ended up here in Stockholm working for this wonderful orchestra and the wonderful people at O/Modernt.

So that's my background and my story in a nutshell.

IG: So you have a lot of experience in managing musicians, in managing orchestras.

MB: I think I have been fortunate to have very different experiences over the years. I think I started with something very small, a series of classical guitar concerts in Prague, trying to invite really great, top young musicians to Prague. 

And then, of course, the publishing industry was something else entirely - all these Urtext editions, musicology... I went through the whole company from the sales department for the director of performance. 

Then I thought it would be very logical for me to work in artist management . That was actually a dream, and I think it was a great opportunity to be in London for a couple of years and work for such a global company, for a number of amazing international artists. 

I think now it's something completely different and very fulfilling. Of course the last 2 years have been extremely difficult for us, but it has not killed us, it's actually made us stronger, and yes, we will see what the future brings.

IG: For people who do not know, like me, what does the orchestra manager do?

MB: That's a pretty complex question, of course. There can be a difference between working for a large orchestra and working for a small independent organization. I have to say that I have quite a large portfolio. I do not just work for the orchestra. As I said, O/Modernt consists not only of the orchestra, but also of a foundation with different activities 

As you probably know, we run the annual festival, we run the O/Modernt Academy for young students, we have the O/Modernt Composition Prize, we are now planning a series of events in our new home here in Stockhall, the brand new Queen Silvia Hall. So I have quite an extensive program to deal with. 

Purely from an orchestra perspective, I oversee operations and logistics. I work very closely with our logistics team, and of course it's also my job to find concerts and opportunities for O/Modernt. That's basically my job. 

But it is also a financial responsibility. Funding is extremely important for us. It is difficult, and we apply for different grants every year, and that is also an important part of my work.

IG: Of course O/Modernt is an established name, you have a great history, a great leader and great musicians in the orchestra. As a manager, how do you find concerts, how do you unite them into tours? Is it all personal connections? 

MB: It would be better to say, “how do you find the concerts?". Well, it's always complex and always different how to do it. 

Of course, I have been lucky enough to build up an extensive network of contacts over the years. So sometimes it's very easy for me to get in touch and propose a concert or a program. 

We also work with some agencies, and that is important. I think it's still good to have representation, but it's also good to have some freedom. So we are trying to find an ideal model for that. 

I think it's always important to approach particular people who are in charge. Whether you know them or not – it's always easy to introduce. 

You always have to be personal and get in touch with the relevant people, convey relevant information to them and provide them with something interesting. Sometimes you should even ask them for their opinion or advice. 

It's always good to be concise, inviting and not overwhelming people with information or huge portfolios and reviews. Be brief and to the point and invite them to see you in action, always give a very good reference, because it really works when you can say, "We just performed here and you can ask this person about us." That really works. Or say, "I am contacting you based on a referral from someone you know very well." That's always very important when you are contacting people. 

These are, I think, very basic principles that not only apply to working as a manager for an orchestra, but also when you are a musician and you want to approach a manager or promoter.

IG: This is a great topic that we just started. I'd like to ask a little bit more. As a musician, can you organize or find your own concerts, approach promoters yourself, concert organizations or venues, find the opportunity to perform there on your own?

MB: Well, I think at the beginning – for sure. Of course, if you perform at a very high level, it's probably less likely. Probably it would look a bit strange if you approach a big organization and offer a solo recital. It's not common, but it's not impossible either, depending on how you do it. I think it's definitely possible, you just have to be smart about it. 

I just have to say that I repeat myself, especially when I was an agent… Agents get offers and proposals all the time. Basically, so do venues and promoters. People tend to overwhelm them with information and texts. Sometimes it's really huge, and people do not have time to deal with it.

So I think the less the better. What really works is if you go to particular people, give them very specific and relevant references, always good to find out if they know people you know, for example. I think you also have to have a good reason why you are approaching a particular venue or promoter. Is there a connection? That's very important. 

I think it's best not to overwhelm with information, but to say "You are welcome to go to my website or watch my clips". Include some links. And the best thing is to say, "I am playing a concert next week, would you like to come and see me? 

I think those are very important principles of how to do this. Then it works. 

But it also takes time to build relationships. You can approach someone and it can take a couple of years before you can do something together. Maybe you see each other, you have a coffee, or he comes to your concert, or you meet somewhere else, or he calls someone to ask for a reference or recommendation, and then suddenly he calls you and says, "Why don’t you come and play here?"

IG: So it's really about not being afraid to connect, to talk to someone and just propose what you have to propose?

MB: If you are confident enough that you can offer something interesting, you do not have to be shy or afraid of it. You can do that, it's just important that you follow the things I just mentioned. You'll be surprised that people make the same mistakes over and over again. They send generic emails or write to all the people in the organization, they write huge emails, very professional portfolios with repertoire and everything. 

But it does not work that way. What really works is – you need to be direct, you need to build relationships, and you need to know why you want to talk to particular people. 

You need to leverage your networks. For example, if you have a famous teacher, ask them for a recommendation or mention that this person can recommend you. It is important that you just follow the basic logic.

IG: How do you feel: to have a famous teacher, to win a competition, to be noticed by a famous conductor or conductress… Of course, it is still the case that this is a good path to success. But is it also the only one? Now that we live in such an open world with the Internet, where the whole world is your potential audience, is it the only way to succeed or not?

MB: I think this is a puzzle today. 

You can win a competition, but there is no guarantee that you will be successful as an artist. Same with the famous teacher, same with the protégé. People can definitely help, but if you are not good enough, if you do not radiate something special, if you do not touch people with your music, nothing and nobody will help you. 

So I think it's definitely important to have good teachers. It's important to try your hand at competitions, and if you are successful, that can certainly be a good leverage. If someone can help you and open some doors for you, whether it's an agent or a teacher, that can always help. 

But I think today it also has a lot to do with your personality and who you are. If you are open-minded, if you are entrepreneurial, if you want to learn, if you want to travel. It's very important that you know something about promotion and marketing, how it works, how the music industry works. The more educated you are, the better. It's really very important today. 

To answer your question, it's really a very complex subject and in addition to everything you mentioned, today it's really about musicians, about you.

IG: I love what you said about entrepreneurship and learning marketing, about how to present yourself, how to tell your story. I find that marketing is sometimes seen as a dirty word and we as musicians often do not think about these things. 

It's great if you already have a manager or an agent, or if there's someone who's already doing it for you, then obviously you do not have to do it yourself. But probably 95% of us are on our own.

MB: I think it's important for every musician to know something about it and how it works. Maybe music management should be included in the academy curriculum so that people know something about the music industry.

IG: Nowadays everybody is a publisher, right, because if you are an orchestra or a solo musician you have a website, you have social media, podcasts, there are so many ways to tell your story. If you are just publishing things about yourself, maybe it gets boring quickly because there's just so many things you can say about yourself before you start repeating them. Maybe as musicians, as organizations, we need to find content that's within our scope, that's about us, that's interesting to our audience, and then share that content and build a really meaningful relationship with people. Then they will be interested in you.

MB: Well, today the most successful artists are probably also influencers. It is important and it also attracts attention when they talk about different things, when they talk about environmental issues or some social issues in their country, or when they support young students or do something else, support children in some problematic neighborhoods. That is also very important and part of it. 

Today you can not just focus on your instrument or the next concert, it's much more. It's also part of your personality and approach. People are generally interested in hearing stories. People want to hear stories today. That's also important, because if you are not very interesting as a personality, of course you can be a wonderful and great artist. But I think you would be much more successful as an artist if you manage to create some stories and convey some stories about yourself, about your family, and about what you do. 

Today it's not just about music, and you have to be socially responsible. That's also important if you are a really big artist.

IG: If you want to tell stories, there are so many platforms today. So is social media a necessity for musicians? Website, social media...

MB: I think so, and I must say that there is nothing wrong about self-promotion. You just have to do it in a smart way. It can not be very aggressive, it has to be intelligent and interesting, but if you want to be present as a musician, you have to be present online today. There is no other way, especially if you want to appeal to young people. 

I think it's just important to be online. Again, you have to find the right channels to do that. Today, of course, we have social media and platforms like "Patreon" where you can present concerts or master classes and have conversations. I think it all works very well, it's all very important. 

When we need information, most of us go online. Today, if you can not find a website, that's weird, you say, "Oh, there's something strange about this artist, orchestra, organization". That's the first sign that something is really wrong. 

I think if an artist is not present today, then it's just difficult for them to gain a new audience, to interact with people, to communicate with their followers, to promote themselves. For promoters it's very difficult to find information about them, and for them it's difficult to work with promoters.

IG: I have been learning now for the last two years about social media, audiences, and how to engage with people. There are so many statistics and data. The internet has given us an incredible amount of data about each individual and large groups of people. 

With all this data, one thing is very clear - if you share something meaningful, the audience will come. You have to be authentic and share something meaningful. The same goes for the concert, if you are interesting as a musician, if you offer interesting programs the audience will come, and that audience will stay with you because you have an audience that is interested in what you offer. I think it's very important for us to become more entrepreneurial and think, "What do I offer as a musician? What makes me different from all the other friends and groups?

MB: It is crucial to think about this because especially when we talk about violin or piano, there are thousands of wonderful musicians, skillful musicians, all of them have an incredible technique, they can all play Mozart concertos when they are 5 or 6. So how can you stand out from the crowd? 

It's about your personality, your energy, your talent, something special that you can not describe.
  
Sometimes someone comes on stage, and even before they start playing, you can see that they have something special about them. 

It's important to think about all that, when you reach a certain age and a certain level, it's important what you are able to communicate with your music. Then, I think, the more you know about the world, not about music, but the more experiences you have, the more you know, the more you read, the better you have something to tell. 

Because if you just play notes, people will realize very quickly that you do not have anything to say, that you have been only pursuing your career, and that's not something that would attract them. 
IG: By the way, O/Modernt has an amazing story and I love how it is told. When I visited your website, I was amazed that it's really incredibly beautifully designed and fits so well with the concept of O/Modernt, with the stories you tell there about the orchestra, about the purpose of the orchestra, even about the meaning of the name itself, which hides so many different meanings in that one word. I love that story.

How do you and O/Modernt approach this, the marketing side? Do you have a dedicated team for that? Because the orchestras often do not need to advertise concerts. That's the job of the venue. Do you do some of the marketing yourself?

MB: Of course we try to do our best. We do not have a huge team, but we have a wonderful colleague who is in charge of it, and we work very closely together. 

It's much less work when you have a guest performance somewhere because the venue or the festival is responsible for it, but you still have to take care of the social media and the website to collect reviews and work with the reviews afterwards. 

We also organize the annual festival here in Stockholm, so of course it's very important. We try to follow all the trends and do everything we can to promote the festival and attract the audience, which was quite difficult this year because of the pandemic. It's a global trend that it's hard to bring people back, because some of them just do not come back for various reasons. It's going to take a few more years for venues and promoters to be able to get attendance back up. 

IG: That's also a very important issue, because, of course, the pandemic was a big crisis in the world and for classical music in particular, and audiences are not coming back at the same rate. But it's also a great opportunity to attract a new kind of audience, a younger audience, people who might not have come to the concert hall in the past.

I can not give numbers now, maybe I'll do them in a video later, but there are enough younger audiences, for example on Spotify, who listen to classical music but do not come to the concert halls. 

How do we get them, how do we communicate with them in a way that makes them feel that going to a classical concert is not scary, that you do not have to dress up and know everything about Mozart?

MB: Spotify now offers new tools like texts, pictures, diaries, there is still some room for improvement on Spotify. But that's exactly why you need social media, some digital platforms where you can reach a new audience. 

And of course you have to talk about the things you do, and you have to be creative, you have to develop new concert formats, you have to talk to people. The days of just getting on stage and performing are gone. 

People are much more interested in some kind of interaction. They want musicians to talk to them, they want to know more about the music. They would listen very differently if they knew something about it. That's why there are these formats like "listen twice." I do not think there's anything wrong with that, because you can not expect to have only people who know very well about classical music, and today we just have to try to attract a wider audience, and we need them, we need new people to come. So we have to develop new formats and make the performances much more interactive.

People can also build some relationships and bonds with artists. It is also very important that they get to know them as people. 

You can do different things – you can have conversations before the concert, some CD signings, conversations after the concert; if an artist can play folk or traditional music, you can have a late-night concert after the main concert, which can be much less formal and he can interact more with people. 

There are different ways you can do that. The trick is how to get the people who come to the Harry Potter concert to come to a concert of Brahms symphonies? Not all of them, of course, but at least some of them, and how to attract new people? I think these are very important questions.

IG: Of course, it would be great if we could engage in conversation and build a relationship with our audience at a concert. But at the same time, now everybody has Instagram, a website, Facebook, Twitter and so on, and you can tell all these stories there 

Maybe every day you can post something about one piece, and the next day you can post about another. And if you play modern music or arrangements, you should have a few words from the composer or arranger about it. That way you can really convey some value and be interesting.

MB Again, people love stories and they want to know what is behind them and how this work came into being 

IG: Everyone is a storyteller, everyone has a platform. You do not need a big publisher to publish your book or wait for the New York Times to take your interview. If you have a story to tell, you just have to tell it, you do not have to wait for permission.

MB: It depends, of course, on how much capacity you have, but you can do it in any case if you want to, you need not be afraid and there are people who can do it very well.

IG: Young musicians, if they are listening to us now and they are wondering, "How can I as a musician with an idea, with a story, how can I get more audience, more performance opportunities, how can I get on stage?" What can they do to get there?

MB: It's difficult, of course, and everyone has different backgrounds and different possibilities. 

If I start from scratch – imagine you are still at the college, at the conservatory. My advice would be to prepare for real life. Because I think a lot of talented musicians just focus on their solo career. They dream about Carnegie Hall and performing as a soloist. 

But in reality, that's just the reality, only a few of them will succeed as big soloists. 

I think it's important for everyone to prepare for the future if you want to have a musical career. It is very difficult to be a musician today. 

That's why you have to learn languages, you have to travel, you have to learn about the music business, you have to do a lot of chamber music, and if you are a potential orchestral musician, you should try youth orchestras to play more in the college orchestra. 

Because chamber music and orchestra, those two things will give you incredible experience, and a lot of musicians need that experience. I feel like a lot of musicians or students underestimate that a little bit and just play big concertos. 

Maybe that's also a little bit of the problem with the system. When you go to college, you are basically prepared to become a soloist, but it's maybe only 5% of people who become soloists. So maybe something needs to be changed here. 

What I forgot to mention: besides teachers, competitions, or if you are a protégé of someone, what really works is just word of mouth. If you are a good orchestral musician and you are playing somewhere, musicians talk to each other, even from different orchestras, and if you are really good, people know that. It's the same with conductors and orchestras. Festivals talk to each other, promoters and venues talk to each other. This really works I have to say. 

I think what's important today is that you have to be good, of course, but as I said, you also have to be smart, savvy, entrepreneurial, open-minded, innovative, and creative to succeed in this world. 

Of course, it's also important to be a good networker, to be able to build relationships and connections, to have some diplomacy and be able to talk to people, to have a good website and be present online, to be able to play with other people. 

All of that helps, and you can build on that. You can try to find a very good agent to work for you, or build very good relationships with a concert venue where you can start, and that will give you a start. It's just important to think outside the box today.

IG: I think it's great that you addressed the issue when you said, "When you contact an agent, a manager, or a concert organization, you have to be personal." You can not just copy emails and send them to everyone 

MB: Absolutely, and it really happens every day. I just feel like people think, "I need to find an agent, why don’t I send an email to all the agents I can Google online." And that never works

IG: Maybe sometimes people are afraid, they think, "I do not know this person personally, how can I talk to them?" But almost everyone is online, if you want to talk to someone, you go to that person's Twitter feed, Facebook or Instagram, read the post, read what that person is interested in, comment on something, reply to something, retweet, reshare.

MB: It's important to do some research and really have an idea of why. If you research and think about it, you are going to find something or someone that is somehow connected to you or someone you know, or there's some other meeting point.. I think that's crucial in the music business.

IG: It was amazing to talk to you

MB: Thank you for the invitation

Thank you for being my very first guest. The first guest on a podcast that does not have a name. It's an honor for me, I wish you all the best with O/Modernt and look forward to hearing you and maybe joining you sometime.