IAMA Welcomes Cornelia Schmid
IAMA, the International Artist Managers’ Association, has welcomed a new chairman in Cornelia Schmid.
She is Managing Director of the Hannover, London and Berlin based agency KD Schmid and has over 30 years’ experience in artist management.
Cornelia Schmid (Photo credit: Marco Borggreve)
“It’s a big commitment but the time was right for me to give something back to the business,” she says. “We’ve always been very closely associated with IAMA and I now feel like I have the energy and the capacity to really do this properly.”
After studies at the University in Bonn and Harvard University and music management traineeships at the Tanglewood Music Festival, New York Philharmonic Orchestra and artist management firms in London and Amsterdam, Cornelia joined her father’s company in 1986 at the age of 28. She now manages Konzertdirektion Schmid and is also co-owner of Konzertdirektion Dr. Rudolf Goette in Hamburg and Pro Musica in Hannover.
IAMA would like to thank outgoing chairman Aino Turtiainen-Visala of Helsiniki-based Fazer Artists for her service.
IAMA is holding its conference at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf this year from 8 to 10 Apr, with Beyond Transition as its theme. It is the association’s 29th annual conference and expects, as usual, to attract over 500 of the classical music industry’s top decision makers for three days of discussion, idea sharing and networking.
“Whenever we meet, we talk about the incredibly exciting times that we are going through,” says conference chairman and Tonhalle intendant Michael Becker. “Think about the Augean stables we clean every day – cancellations, financing and other challenges. While we deal with those, we also look ahead and set things up for the coming seasons. Our world is more fluid than ever and we seem to be in a permanent transition. Is transition ever done? And what comes next?”
“At the IAMA Conference 2019, we want to contemplate what is beyond all that. Düsseldorf, capital city of Germany’s most densely populated state, North Rhine-Westphalia, offers a wonderful setting with its cosmopolitan spirit combined with the sense of a close-knit community. And there could be no better place to talk about transitions and beyond than Tonhalle Düsseldorf, which was once the biggest planetarium in the world and is now a concert hall presenting starry music performances.”
Tonhalle (Photo credit: Susanne Diesner)
On its first day, the Conference features a focus on opera, acknowledging the unique challenges of the sector. Sessions include a panel on whether stage directors hold too much sway in opera houses and if Regietheater remains a meaningful term; and a peer-to-peer discussion about cancellations – an inevitable part of working with singers but surrounded by contractually thorny issues.
There are opportunities to share and learn best practice on issues like harassment and handing over artists on the second day of the conference, along with a workshop on emotionally intelligent leadership and a panel session titled Fine Arts and (New) Luxury – turning a pragmatic co-existence into a symbiotic partnership.
The third day’s focus on media and technology includes a panel session provocatively titled There is Life in the Old Dog, which notes that the record industry, subscription systems, and self-sustaining recital and chamber music series were once mainstays of the music world, but then the world changed. We will assess the options and re-consider sustainability for the future.
IAMA is also already looking ahead to its 30th conference, hosted by L’Auditori in Barcelona, taking place from 22 to 24 Apr 2020.
Click here to visit IAMA’s website.