Editor's Welcome

Welcome

CALLAN COUGHLAN assistant artist manager

Callan is a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Dublin City University (BA in Music Performance) and Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin (MSc in Management), receiving distinction in his dissertation entitled “How Arts and Cultural Organisations are using Technology to redevelop and innovate their Business Models”. He left Ireland behind in April 2017 to join the Askonas Holt team as an Assistant Artist Manager in the Singers department. Last season, Callan also volunteered his time as Marketing Manager for Young People in the Arts. A keen runner, Callan will be running the 2020 London Marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK and in memory of his Dad.

One can confidently say that any professional musician owes a significant amount of their success to the educational institutions they studied at and from the teachers they learned from. The lucky few who are born with such innate musical talent and ability must have this gift fostered and developed from childhood to ensure their musical potential is fully realised.

In today’s complicated world, however, the ‘education’ a musician must receive stretches far beyond just the music. The artist must be a self-promoter, digitally-savvy and differentiate themselves more than ever to grab the consumer’s attention. The music itself will always take precedent but in today’s hyper-competitive market, we must look at what the musician can do to differentiate and succeed.

This issue of The Green Room explores the theme of musical education in the modern age, taking illustrative examples that make up a journey; from youth programmes to conservatories and onwards to the early stages of professional life.

Reflecting Askonas Holt’s dedication to working with the very best youth ensembles, we had the pleasure of hearing about NYO-USA trumpeter Gabriel Ortiz’s experiences of the orchestra's recent tour across Europe with star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Sir Antonio Pappano (p. 10).

Looking at the next ‘stage’, I personally had the pleasure of catching up with two trailblazers in the field of professional development in leading UK conservatoires; Jess Walker of the Royal Academy of Music and Diana Roberts of the Royal College of Music, to see how they’re helping their young musicians develop from students into pros (p. 20).

Moving into the professional realm, our cover story features two true rising opera stars: baritone Andrei Kymach and bass Alexandros Stavrakakis, in conversation with journalist Yehuda Shapiro and their manager, AH Executive Director Mark Hildrew (p. 16).

The pinnacle of a singer’s education is the opera studio and ensemble contract. Sophie Rashbrook sat down with three singers who have been through the iconic European system – Adam Plachetka, Christina Gansch and Pavel Petrov – to discover what they have learned and the challenges they have faced (p. 25).

Outside our theme, we catch up with Irish conductor and new signing Peter Whelan (p. 9) and shine a spotlight on cellist Andrei Ionită (p. 28).

I hope you enjoy reading this magazine as much as I have enjoyed acting as Guest Editor. In an age where the importance of musical education is deemed as societally less important, we must strive to highlight and commend the fantastic, important work that is still being achieved, and the wonderful young artists that are continuing to emerge.