{"id":52,"date":"2008-08-07T18:28:11","date_gmt":"2008-08-07T18:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=52"},"modified":"2008-08-07T18:28:11","modified_gmt":"2008-08-07T18:28:11","slug":"delusions_of_relevance_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2008\/08\/delusions_of_relevance_1\/","title":{"rendered":"Delusions of relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, I must footnote playwright Jason Grote<\/a>
\nfor that phrase. He mentioned it in an e mail exchange, and I warned
\nhim that I would be claiming it as my own in the future. The future is
\nnow. <\/i><\/p>\n

Hilary (Hahn) was in The NY Times<\/i> Crossword<\/a>
\nlast Thursday. 54 down. The clue was “violin virtuoso”, the answer:
\nHahn. Really? People got that? I started to count letters on my
\nfingers…I-T-Z-H-A-K…B-E-L-L…<\/p>\n

At this point, I have lost
\nall perspective on who’s “famous” and who’s “classical music famous”.
\nHilary is clearly classical music-famous, but famous-famous?
\nApparently. In my experience, folks outside of The Industry know Yo-Yo
\nMa, Itzhak Perlman and maybe, maybe<\/i> Joshua Bell. After tomorrow night, I suspect they will know Lang Lang as well. <\/p>\n

How, and at what point, does that happen in a classical musician’s career? Perlman was a top classical act at a time when The Ed Sullivan Show<\/i>,
\netc., often had classical performers on television, but this generation
\nof musicians is at a distinct disadvantage there.  [I was told once by
\na booker that a certain TV host, two syllables, rhymes with Pope-rah,
\n“just doesn’t like classical music”.] Mainstream magazines – fashion,
\nlifestyle – will sometimes feature a classical artist if he\/she fits
\ninto an existing piece, but one fashion spread does not a household
\nname make. Appearances in movies, performances at special events (like
\nThe Kennedy Center Honors)…all of these things contribute, but what
\ntips an artist over the edge? I’d rather not admit this, but I know for
\na fact that Itzhak Perlman was mentioned on Gossip Girl<\/i> last season; if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere. <\/p>\n

Should
\nmainstream fame for their artists be every performing arts publicist’s
\ngoal? If I meet a random person on the street, and he generally knows
\nwho Hilary Hahn is, have I done my job? Conversely, should a publicist
\nfocus on developing an artist’s “classical” fame: high-caliber features
\nand reviews from important industry publications (and now blogs)?  I
\nannounced loudly and somewhat grandly at a dinner when the Schoenberg\/Sibelius came out that
\nI would rather Alex Ross review the disc on his blog<\/a> than in The New Yorker<\/i>, because the people reading his blog would actually buy the album, whereas the people reading The New Yorker <\/i>would just use “this fascinating new interpretation” as cocktail party fodder. [Note to readers: As if I have a choice.]<\/i> [Note to The New Yorker: You are my favorite! I take it back!]<\/i> Is it better (”  “) for a performing artist to be on the cover of Gramophone<\/i> or to have a one-page Q&A about how they impress girls buried in Cosmo<\/i>? Which is higher profile, and which, perhaps more importantly, will raise the artist’s<\/i> profile? Profile…how?<\/p>\n

The
\nclassical music industry suffers in equal parts from delusions of
\nrelevance and delusions of irrelevance. Delusions of relevance inside
\nthe industry: what percentage of the population actually cares about
\nclassical music? And delusions of irrelevance outside the industry: the
\nlarge majority of the population may not think it cares about classical
\nmusic, but classical music is omnipresent, in the elevator, in movies,
\non your cell phone. Norman Lebrecht was kind enough to point out<\/a>
\nHilary’s low (and yet, depending on how you look at it, high) album
\nsales. Cue Billy Crudup voiceover: “500 copies a week? $8,000.
\nOverwhelmingly high praise from critics and industry peers?
\nPriceless.”  Should the classical album market (and classical ticket
\nsales market) attempt to compete with the mainstream\/pop markets? Any
\nlogical person would say no. But then there’s the disconnect: we strive
\nto place performing artists in mainstream media markets, and then still
\ndo not expect their album\/concert sales to be comparable. Can a real – I’m not
\ntalking to you, Josh Groban –  classical artist ever be truly
\nmainstream?<\/p>\n

(And what defines a “real classical artist”? Yeowza. Another post for another time.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, I must footnote playwright Jason Grote for that phrase. He mentioned it in an e mail exchange, and I warned him that I would be claiming it as my own in the future. The future is now. Hilary (Hahn) was in The NY Times Crossword last Thursday. 54 down. The clue was “violin virtuoso”, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-52","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}