Universal Music launches the new Centre Stage Artist Management (CSAM) agency

Universal Music Group has launched Centre Stage Artist Management (CSAM), a new Berlin and London-based agency to provide management services to classical singers.

Judith Neuhoff, who had been working with Jeffrey D. Vanderveen in IMG Artists and Universal Music Classical Management and Productions, has been appointed as Managing Director of CSAM.

Neuhoff said the company’s philosophy was about supporting individual clients and added “Through in-depth collaboration with opera houses and concert halls, record labels, PR agencies and promoters around the world, we are able to offer unique perspective and guidance to artists. We will continue to develop an artist roster of supreme excellence, with quality, transparency and accountability as our guiding principles.”

CSAM is currently working with Anna Netrebko, Mojca Erdmann, Ruxandra Donose, Joseph Calleja, Massimo Giordano, Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson and Roman Trekel.

An Overview to Anna Netrebko's 2008-2009 Season

On a personal side, we could say that this Anna Netrebko's season started with the birth of her son Tiago Arua in Wien on 5. Sep 2008 and will end with her upcoming wedding with Erwin Schrott, father of Tiago Arua. The place and date of the wedding has not been announced, but it could take place at the end of August in Austria.

On the professional side, the 2008-2009 Season for Anna Netrebko started in January 2009, later than usual due to the birth of Tiago. Anna Netrebko has performed in 5 different operas: Donizetti's Lucia di Lammemoor at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Met in New York (role debut at the Met) and the Wiener Staatsoper in Wien (role debut at the Wiener Staatsoper), Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the ROH in London (role debut at the ROH), Verdi's La Traviata at the Opernhaus Zürich in Zürich (debut at the Opernhaus Zürich), the Wiener Staatsoper in Wien and the San Francisco Opera in San Francisco (role debut at the San Francisco Opera), Puccini's La Bohème at the Bayerische Staatsoper in München (role debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper) and Tchaikovsky's Iolanta at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Baden-Baden (role debut).

Furthermore the Austrian-Russian star soprano sang in 4 concerts and 2 lied recitals: the Gala Concert "Friends of Valery Gergiev, The Stars of the Stars" held at the Mariinsky Theater on the occasion of Valery Gergiev's 56th Birthday, the "Anna Netrebko Gala" at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater, concerts with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Braunschweig and München and lied recitals in Mannheim and at the Salzburger Festspiele in Salzburg.

From a personal point of view I have attended 4 opera performances, being able to see Anna in Lucia di Lammermoor in Wien, I Capuleti e I Montecchi in London, La Bohème in München and Iolanta in Baden-Baden. Attending each one of those performances has been a fantastic and unique experience. It was in Wien, after the Lucia's performance, where I was formally first introduced to Anna by Jeffrey Vanderveen.


Now the season has arrived to an end and we are looking forward to attending some of the exciting performances and concerts of the new season.

Meanwhile, we would like to send our best wishes of happiness to Anna, Erwin and Tiago.

Anna Netrebko | 2008-2009 Season
Anna Netrebko | 2009-2010 Season

Long-term cooperation agreement between Universal Music Classical Management & Productions (UMCMP) and First Classics GmbH

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTIONS (UMCMP), a leading international company of the UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP (UMG), and FIRST CLASSICS GmbH, the new network of German classical concerts organizers, have a long-term cooperation agreement. It includes new and innovative ways of cooperation in classic live events.

Initial projects are due to start this autumn, continuing on a larger scale in the 2010/2011 season. Existing contracts for UMCMP artists will be honored.

"For us, First Classics is the perfect partner because it focuses on artistic quality and reaches out to a well-informed public that wishes to experience the stars of classical music as well as new artistic developments," said Manfred Seipt, UMCMP managing director, in a statement. "By working closely with our group's labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, we will, through this new partnership, be able to present artists in Germany more successfully than ever before."

Andreas Schessl, managing director of First Classics, added: "The partnership with Universal Music opens up new opportunities for us to include top international stars on our prestigious concert series and also allows us to familiarize our public with the stars of tomorrow."

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTIONS (UMCMP), with headquarters in London, is part of the UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and is one of the leading companies in the field of artist management and event production / promotion for classical music. Among the artists managed by UMCMP they are world stars like Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Elina Garanca, Thomas Hampson, and many more. Jeffrey Vanderveen and Manfred Seipt are the Managing Directors of UMCMP.

FIRST CLASSICS GmbH was founded by renowned private concert organizers from Germany, mainly in the field of classical music business. It develops projects for classical music and organizes tours of top artists and ensembles.

Sources
UNIVERSAL MUSIC und FIRST CLASSICS starten langfristige Kooperation - PR-inside.com, 27. Jul 2009 [German]
UMCMP Inks Deal With First Classics - Billborad.biz, 28. Jul 2009 [English]