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January 07, 2009
BBC artists are blooming in Picardy
Everyone knows 2009 is going to be tough. So, if you are worried about your job quit moaning and do what the smart people are doing. Portfolio working, defined as 'earning your income from a variety of sources', is the way to go. Gilbert Kaplan has expanded his work portfolio to include conducting. While over at the Cleveland Plain Dealer publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger's portfolio includes a seat on the board of the Cleveland Symphony.
Here in the UK a lot of people are concerned about what is happening at the BBC. So portfolio working is the way to go for their staff. The presenter of BBC Radio 3's World Routes programme, Lucy Duran, is continuing her long-standing career as a record producer. A recent success for her in the role of producer (together with Jerry Boys) was Israeli Sephardic singer Yasmin Levy's 2007 album Mano Suave. Levy is an excellent musician and achieved quite a profile last year. In fact she had her own concert on BBC Radio 3's World Routes on 1st January, 2008.
Elsewhere in the BBC the Radio 3 new generation artist scheme has been a big success, except for a spot of bother with the BBC's governing body over commercial links. The mastermind behind the scheme is Adam Gatehouse. He is Editor Live Music, BBC Radio 3 with specific responsibility for chamber music. This includes the BBC's 'flagship' lunch-time chamber music concerts at the Wigmore Hall, and he was a judge in the influential 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. The BBC new generation artist scheme has boosted the careers of some quite outstanding young musicians, including Paul Lewis, Alina Ibragimova, the Belcea Quartet, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra, Christianne Stotijn and Cedric Tiberghien.
Despite what sounds like a challenging full-time job at the BBC Adam Gatehouse is also into portfolio working. In 2006 he started the Festival de Valloires chamber music festival in Picardy, France, see photo below. He holds the title of festival director with responsibility for 'all artistic matters and programming'. The Festival de Valloires has attracted some quite outstanding artists. Particularly for a new event which, in the director's words, 'doesn't pay huge fees'. The young musicians who have appeared there include Paul Lewis, Alina Ibragimova, the Belcea Quartet, Antoine Tamestit, Christian Poltéra, Christianne Stotijn and Cedric Tiberghien.
None of this is a secret. Both Lucy Duran and Adam Gatehouse clearly state their involvement in non-BBC activities online and elsewhere. Both had successful careers before they joined the BBC Radio 3. Just a few minutes searching on Google returns the information above. None of it, to my knowledge, breaks any rules. So quit moaning. Expand your portfolios. Welcome to 2009.
But this one was in a different league altogether.
Mano Suave was bought by me at a discount from failed music retailer Zavvi. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Jan 7, 2009 at 11:11 AM