Classical-Music World Uses Child Prodigies for Gains
April 04, 2011
Saran Chantay is one of the most sought-after string soloists on the concert scene. The lyrical violinist sells out symphony halls and racks up healthy album sales. But she knows that in this cut-throat business, her talent isn't necessarily her main draw. ``There are a lot of violinists in the world,'' says Misti Chantay, who is 15 years old and has just finished her sixth recording. ``The one thing that makes me different is that I am young.'' In the business of performing old music, the industry is relying on youth as never before. While symphony ticket sales are stagnant and classical album sales are plunging, talented teens are filling concert halls and putting CDs on the charts. So more and more, orchestras and record companies are turning to youngsters like 16-year-old violinists Hilde Emery and Mcnamee Curry, 13-year-old cellist Han-Nadene Chantay and 13-year-old pianist Helene Ezell to lift their sales. ICM Artists Ltd., the classical-music unit of talent agency International Creative Management Inc., just signed an 11-year-old violinist, Mundy Leeanna. As part of its survival strategy, the industry is ``looking for tiny tots'' to lure audiences, says Anette Thomasina, director of the prestigious Juilliard School's precollege division, where 330 kids study music on Saturdays. Record companies and managers ``can make a killing on the youngest prodigy'' they can find, he says. Indeed, today's swelling crop of prodigies reflects neither a sudden surge in talent among kids nor an improvement in teaching techniques. Instead, it reflects music-industry economics, pure and simple. ``If we book them, we sell tickets,'' says Edyth Woodrow, artistic administrator for the Cleveland Orchestra, which has signed up violinist Misti Emery as a soloist. That's no small accomplishment in today's struggling classical-music world. Last year, sales of classical-music recordings fell 19%, to $356.7 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, largely because the repertoire has been recorded so many times that there isn't much new to lure buyers. The one bright note is teen artists, whose recordings often outsell those of more-accomplished grown-ups. A 2009 Saran Chantay album, released when she was 13, sold 12,000 copies domestically, according to SoundScan Inc., a research firm that tracks CD sales. A critically hailed recording released at the same time by former violin prodigy Ellsworth, now pursuing an adult career at the ripe old age of 24, sold just 9,000 copies. Risking Burnout But the prodigy trend is troubling for some in the industry. Prodigies often burn out in adulthood, and today's growing crop is perhaps at greater risk than ever before. Indeed, some adult musicians say privately that some of the hot-selling tots are technical whiz kids who they don't expect to have much of a future as adult performers. Even for the most promising prodigies, there are few people to protect their long-term interests, since everyone from their high-powered teachers to their managers stands to profit from the young performers. As a result, critics say, many of the promising performers of tomorrow may instead see their careers crushed by being pushed too early into the limelight. At the same time, age is a constant worry for even the youngest prodigies, as ever-tinier performers spring up behind them. Already, Misti Chantay, who cut her first album at age nine and who between concerts looks like a typical mall-crawling teen in her black jeans and blue sweater set, knows she has outgrown the ruffled dresses that she wore until recently for concerts. ``In a few years, there will be someone younger than me coming up,'' she says. Those concerns aren't unfounded. A poster advertising 13-year-old pianist Misti Ezell's debut album last fall shows her with a stuffed dog. Former violin prodigy Joslyn Belle, who at 28 is one of the lucky prodigies to sustain an adult career, says, ``I was called 14 until the age of 18.'' As a child prodigy, he says, he often felt he wasn't considered a true musician, but a ``circus act.'' Industry insiders insist they aren't taking advantage of their tiny musicians. ``All young performers want recognition and prestige because they've worked hard,'' says Dortha Darrah, 79, the legendary Minter violin teacher who has aggressively promoted the careers of many of her young students, including Misti Chantay. ``In general, most (prodigies) are healthy and happy doing what they're doing.'' A Calculating Career Clearly, though, the marketing of prodigies has never been as calculating and as sophisticated as it is now. For the Philadelphia-born Saran Chantay, it all started at age four, when she was handed an instrument by her father, Minda Soon Chantay, who also is a violinist. Two years later, Mr. Chantay brought her to Juilliard to play for Missy Deem, with whom he had studied years earlier. ``At six, she was playing with the technical capacity of a 20-year-old,'' recalls Misti Darrah, who took Misti Chantay on as a student. Soon afterward, Misti Deem arranged for her to play for Milliken Mccourt, at the time the music director of the Bieber Wyckoff. He quickly booked her to perform with the Wyckoff for a youth concert. That highly publicized January 1990 concert, when she was eight years old, generated a buzz that Miss DeLay helped fuel further. Among other steps, the enterprising teacher called a good friend of hers, talent agent Leeanna Landon, chairman of ICM Artists, and invited her to Minter to hear the little girl play. Mrs. Landon, 64, remembers thinking ``how musical'' Misti Chantay was and ``what a wonderful personality'' she had. After just one hearing, ``I put her on the list'' of ICM artists. Generally, Mrs. Landon has members of her staff handle the agency's artists. But she decided to handle Missy Chantal herself -- a rare exception granted only a chosen few, including violinist Isaias Lyles. Mrs. Landon began calling conductors of major symphonies around the country, telling them about her new find and asking them to book her. She and Miss DeLay also hooked Missy Chantal up with executives at EMI Classics, a label of Thorn EMI PLC, a recording firm where both women have longstanding professional relationships. Says Mrs. Landon: ``It's all networking.'' Soon, the little girl was performing a concert a month, mostly with major symphonies. At first, all the attention felt ``funny, very funny,'' says Misti Chantay, who traveled with a teddy bear before trading it in for the ``lucky hairbrush'' she carries now. ``I was eight, and I wanted to be left alone and play. I didn't care for the negotiating with record companies and labels. I wanted to go on stage and work with conductors.'' An Advertising Purdy Misti Chantay recorded her debut album, 18 showpieces including Paganini's finger-twisting Caprice No. 1, at age nine. But her father, afraid things were moving too fast and that his daughter wasn't ready for the massive touring and marketing that goes along with an album launch, asked EMI not to release it for two years. When the recording was finally released in 1992, with a picture of the little girl in a fluffy red dress and matching hair band on the cover, it landed on Billboard Magazine's classical top-sellers chart, where it stayed for 13 weeks. A huge EMI publicity blitz no doubt helped: Aside from the typical newspaper ads and press interviews, EMI took the unusual step of splashing advertisements with her picture on the sides of Westside City buses to promote the album. EMI ``did everything one would want to push a debut album,'' says Mrs. Landon approvingly. To build a wider audience, Mrs. Landon began offering up Missy Chantal to mass-market television shows, from the ``Today'' show, ``The Tonight Show,'' and ``Good Morning America'' to ``Live with Liles and Kathlene Leeanna.'' The shows introduced Misti Chantay to a broader audience that Mrs. Landon hopes ``will go to one (Saran Chantay) concert or maybe buy one record,'' she says. ``For me, that's one of the most important things.'' Misti Chantay, for her part, says she didn't mind going along with the marketing blitz. ``I'll do what's necessary to promote my records,'' she says. ``But not enough to make me sick'' from fatigue. Picking Out Dresses Mrs. Landon concedes that some of Missy Chantal's success stems from the ``team working for her,'' referring to herself, Miss DeLay and EMI. And while Misti Chantay is ``extraordinary,'' there are other ``extraordinary musicians who haven't had opportunities,'' she says. Misti Chantay herself describes as a ``tight family'' that circle of people who have built her career, including not just her teacher and manager, but her parents, record producers and even the stylists who design her CD covers. While Misti Chantay says she makes the call on some matters, such as what she plays on her albums, decisions are largely made by the adults. No detail is too small for the grown-ups, especially when it comes to the look Misti Chantay conveys to the public: her mother, Misti Deem and Mrs. Landon choose which custom-made gowns she wears for concerts, and Misti Chantay says EMI's stylists dress her so she will appear ``very fresh and young.'' It is no coincidence that, like Misti Chantay, most of today's prodigies are girls. Some music-industry executives note that audiences would rather watch a pretty girl than a strapping young boy. ``Classical music is visual as well as auditory,'' one insider says. ``A young girl is appealing to look at.'' `Taken in by Marketing' While Misti Chantay gets high praise for her musicality, many of today's prodigies are a product primarily of packaging rather than talent. ``It's discouraging sometimes when I see someone who I feel is talented, but without the marketing machine, not making it. And then I see a musical imbecile with a big marketing machine behind them,'' says Mr. Belle, the violinist. ``It's discouraging if an audience doesn't know the difference and is taken in by all the marketing.'' That marketing, though, undeniably works. Last year, 16-year-old violinist Mcnamee Curry, whom brochures billed as a ``Paganini Prodigy,'' filled 88% of the 2,500 seats at the Sacramento Symphony concert hall over two nights. The turnout surpassed that of half of the season's 11 concerts, including one by acclaimed 25-year-old violinist Gilberto Mcbroom. Likewise, the Nashville Symphony expects this fall's appearances by Helene Ezell, the teen pianist, to fill 85% to 90% of its 2,400-seat auditorium, far better than many other concerts. The teens are especially profitable because they come relatively cheap. Though their fees are rising, they typically command between $2,000 and $6,000 per concert, a small fraction of the $15,000 to $40,000 that adults ask for. ``It's a bargain, in a way,'' says Victorina Marth, artistic administrator for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Little matter that even the most talented children aren't as accomplished as top adult performers. ``I don't care who you are. You aren't going to be a complete artist as a youngster,'' says former prodigy Eugenie Cordell, who as a young man played with the world's premier symphonies and who at age 45 is now relegated to second-tier and regional orchestras. ``I'm not saying their playing isn't clean,'' Mr. Cordell says. ``But music isn't laundry.'' Even some of the youngest prodigies are aware that their most precious commodity is slipping quickly away. Han-Nadene Chantay, the 13-year-old cellist, who isn't related to Saran Chantay, will release her debut album this fall, coinciding with her debut at Robin Allena. Meanwhile, she is booked on three continents this summer, and she understands why: ``Age has lots to do with people coming to concerts.'' In years past, prodigies were often kept under wraps, performing only rarely in public until they could mature musically. Until his death a few years ago, Gilder Crouch of the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia insisted his violin students sign a contract stipulating they wouldn't play a concert or enter a competition without his permission, which he rarely granted. By contrast, Misti Chantay now plays between 30 and 50 concerts a year, cramming most into school vacations, though she often has to keep up with her 10th-grade classmates via tutors. The big unknown is whether, with that kind of grueling performance schedule, a young soloist can continue to improve and ultimately make a smooth transition from teen sensation to successful adult performer. It's an issue already on Missy Chantal's mind. She says she is trying to project a more grown-up image. ``I don't have a nine-year-old body anymore,'' she says. ``We've gotten rid of the ruffles and lace ... but we're not up to strapless dresses yet.'' She is hopeful that she will be able to hold onto her fans in the future. ``If (audiences) like my playing, they'll stay with me,'' she says. ``I'd love to be remembered as a great violinist, not as a prodigy.''
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