Kaufman Center News Blog
Tomorrow’s Stars Today: What Does it Mean to be an “Emerging Artist”?
For seven Tuesday afternoons during the 2008-09 season, Kaufman Center presents rising classical music stars at Merkin Concert Hall. Tuesday Matinees—Kaufman Center’s longest-running series— demonstrates Kaufman Center’s dual commitment to arts education and performance. Through this series, it helps to foster the careers of these “emerging artists” and bridge the gap between their formal education and their lives in performance.
So, what does it mean to be an “emerging artist?” Most often linked with youth, the term actually defines a position in an artist’s career and does not necessarily refer to age. Merkin Concert Hall Director Gregory Evans explains, “ ‘Emerging’ refers to artists or ensembles who are well regarded in the industry, having won awards and received ‘inside’ acclaim, but who lack wider public recognition.” For such artists, there are certain milestones on the performance trail through which they garner acclaim, such as the opportunity to perform in the Tuesday Matinees series. Through this series Kaufman Center presents seven solo artists or ensembles annually, exposing each to enthusiastic audiences and, often, to important critical recognition.
Launched in the 1981–82 season, Tuesday Matinees found its current focus on emerging artists under former Merkin Concert Hall Director Vicki Margulies in the 1990s. Margulies explains, “I’ve always been dazzled by the excellence of young artists coming up, and I wanted to find a way to support them. Tuesday Matinees seemed a brilliant way to let artists benefit from an opportunity to play in New York City. I also saw the series as a way to treat audiences to great performances.” Margulies is now Artist Manager for Young Concert Artists (YCA), one of the leading organizations dedicated to discovering and launching the careers of exceptional musicians from around the world.
Presentation on a stage as prestigious as Merkin Hall can open doors to other venues. Just how an artist gets invited to perform on the series varies according to genre. Explains Evans, “For soloists, I generally take cues from the main young artist competitions––YCA, Concert Artists Guild or Astral Artist; for ensemblesI look for groups whose individual artists are also established performers. Additionally, I try to create an overall balance of different instruments and sounds each season, mixing piano and violin soloists or string quartets with the less expected, such as a marimba soloist or a saxophone quartet.” In this way, Merkin Hall plays curator, offering a quality selection each season from the many available options. As artists garner more acclaim they perform at increasingly bigger venues for increasingly larger audiences. While this exposure is exciting, there is something about the warmth, accessibility and acoustical quality of Merkin Hall that artists often miss, and which often calls them back. The Brentano String Quartet played in the Tuesday Matinees series at the beginning of its career. By the time they were performing at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere, they still craved the experience of performing at Merkin Hall and the close connection they found with their audience. Says mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, a 2008-09 Tuesday Matinees artist, “A singer could not imagine a more perfect space . . . like a living room and recital hall in one. Merkin provides another arena to explore my hopes artistically, to be adventurous and uninhibited. Any and every chance to be on the stage brings necessary training that can happen no other way.”
For the audience, the chance to see artists in such an intimate setting is a unique advantage. Explains one audience member, “I come because this series always presents wonderful young people, it’s affordable and, of course, because it’s a good time.” The enthusiasm of the artists is palpable in the performances. A young listener shared, “I came today for the pianist. He has so much warmth and understands the music so well. For him it’s not about showing off.”
For these artists it’s not about showing off. Tuesday Matinees is a celebration—of talent, of opportunity and of things to come. In the words of one longtime subscriber, “it’s one of the great secret bargains in New York!”
