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Life's A Pitch

For immediate release: the arts are marketable

Archives for April 2010

So like, Gollum steals the ring from Siegfried and Brünnhilde marries Aragorn?

April 7, 2010 by Amanda Ameer

Summer, nearly three years ago, I had an introduction lunch with Eric Owens and his manager, Matthew Horner. After we freebased some feta at Molyvos, Matthew went back to work around the corner, and Eric and I walked a bit and scheduled a time to sign a publicity contract. Hilarity ensued at the actual contract signing, but I'll tell you about that another time. I was working for Hilary Hahn, Gabriel Kahane, and The Wordless Music Series, and was completely terrified by the prospect of working with an opera singer. I had no idea who had sung … [Read more...]

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt

April 6, 2010 by Amanda Ameer

You know, that Metropolitan Opera really is an attention floozy. The eight-page spread in the May issue of Vanity Fair wasn't enough? Really? Apparently not, as James C. Taylor reports on the LA Times' Culture Monster blog:Under current general manager Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera has become more experimental, with singers performing in the aisles and a greater sense of realism on stage; but at Monday's performance of Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet," the smoke in the balcony and firefighters in the lobby were not examples of regietheater. Quite … [Read more...]

Show me what you got

April 5, 2010 by Amanda Ameer

Advertising is funny, right? Any kind of advertising. Food that looks good can be gross, clothes that look great can...also be gross, Ashton Kutcher can run around taking photos of models at a party as much as he likes, but I still have no idea what the pictures from the Nikon COOLPIX look like, or whether the camera will be easy to use. (But it will get me to parties with MODELS!!) I ripped a Heineken ad off the back cover of - I think it was Time Out New York - last week because I liked the photo for its total ridiculousness. It features a … [Read more...]

On crotch-splits

April 1, 2010 by Amanda Ameer

Has everyone seen the debate about the new Broadway musical Come Fly Away over on the New York Times' blog ArtsBeat? Times theater critic Charles Isherwood lurved it, while dance critic Alastair Macaulay was not amused, writing, "How many times are women hoisted aloft in crotch-spreading lifts directly addressed at us? The duets keep saying not 'You and I are in love/having an affair/going through problems' but something closer to pornography: 'Take a look at what we two do together!'" Yikes! Both reviews were posted, and I assume printed, on … [Read more...]

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Amanda Ameer

is a publicist who started First Chair Promotion in July 2007. She currently represents Hilary Hahn, Gabriel Kahane, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sondra Radvanovsky, Julia Wolfe, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Lawrence Brownlee. She thanks Chris Owyoung at One Louder Photo for taking the above photo very quickly and painlessly. Read More…

Life’s A Pitch

Why don't we apply the successful marketing and publicity campaigns we see in our everyday lives to the performing arts? Great ideas are right there, ripe for the emulating. And who's responsible for the wide-reaching problems in ticket sales and … [Read More...]

Archives

@Amandaameer

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Interviews

Talk to me about marketing Shakespeare

Oh gosh: let's see if I even remember how do to do this. Back in the day, when I didn't have clients playing everything Ravel wrote for the piano etc., I did interviews with Industry Professionals. … [Read More...]

Talk to me about Music Marathon

Remember when I was really awesome and posting interviews every week? Well, I'm less awesome now, but here's an interview with Billy Robin of Northwestern University. He started Music Marathon on … [Read More...]

Talk to me about BBC Music Magazine

As often as possible, on Fridays I will post interviews with colleagues from the field who are far more knowledgeable than I am on various marketing and publicity topics. In honor (-our) of all … [Read More...]

Talk to me about Metropolis Ensemble

In the immortal works of Todd Rundgren, "Iiii don't-want-to-work, I just wanna write-on-this-blog-all day." That's not entirely true: I love my job, but it does make things I also like to do--coming … [Read More...]

Life’s a Twitch, Part 3 (The Journalists)

Though many, many more music journalists are on Twitter, these are the people I noticed interacting with the publicists I interviewed the most. Oodles of thanks to  @nightafternight: Steve Smith, … [Read More...]

Talk to me about ‘Opera News’

As often as possible, on Fridays I will post interviews with colleagues from the field who are far more knowledgeable than I am on various marketing and publicity topics. This week, we have F. Paul … [Read More...]

Talk to me about not music blogging

At the ends of weeks, I post interviews with people who know a lot more about aspects of the proverbial business than I do. Two weeks ago, theater blogger Jaime Green told us she would blog … [Read More...]

Talk to me about theater blogging

Happy Friday! It's not raining and I actually have an interview to post!  This week we have Jaime Green, Literary Associate at MCC Theater in Manhattan and blogger of 5 years. Below she discusses … [Read More...]

Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group

Because 1. no one wants to read about The Life and Times of Amanda Ameer every day and 2. because there are many, many people out there who know more about publicity and marketing than I do, every … [Read More...]

Talk to me about Dilettante

Sometimes it's hard being Amanda. For example, when I think of lots of cool people to interview for (le) blog, and they say yes, and then I don't have time to write the questions? Yes, at times like … [Read More...]

A Virtual Panel

A Conversation

Jan 18-22, 2010: I hosted a virtual panel on when and how artists, managers, journalists, presenters and publicists single out musicians for being "special" in their promotion and career-building efforts. Participants included musician, pianist … [Read More...]

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