Post by Richard on Apr 2, 2006 8:52:31 GMT
Hello everybody! 
According to Scotland on Sunday, Steve Abbott is now Nicola Benedetti's day-to-day manager.
Svengali to pull strings as Benedetti goes global
ANNA MILLAR
ARTS CORRESPONDENT (annamillar@scotlandonsunday.com)
A LEADING music industry producer has been hired to work full-time on transforming Nicola Benedetti into a major international superstar.
Steve Abbott, who has produced albums for Jeff Buckley, Mercury Rev and child star Aled Jones, has vowed to make Benedetti a massive name in America and Japan, and to do it all without changing her image.
Abbott has taken over Benedetti's day-to-day management, development and PR from IMG Artists, who will continue to do her concert bookings.
While he is keen not to criticise IMG, Abbott, in an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, makes it clear Benedetti now deserves and needs round-the-clock support.
The 18-year-old from Ayr became a household name last year when she landed a £1m-plus, six-album record deal with Universal/Deutsche Grammophon following her win as BBC Young Musician of The Year.
While she has enjoyed notable success on the home front, former Sony Classics producer Abbott said it was time to give her access to leading composers, conductors and producers across the world.
He said: "When you are dealing with someone of Nicola's talents, the bigger picture has to be looked at.
"It is common with classical musicians for the manager to deal with a number of acts. With Nicola it's about having someone who can look after her 12 hours a day, six days a week."
He added: "Primarily, it's about developing her musically, but she has huge international potential. I could book her into America for a year right now, the demand is there. But it's about taking time and being proactive as well as reactive. It's about creating the demand for her as well as simply reacting to it."
Abbott condemned the widespread assumption that Benedetti's looks were the key to marketing her on the world stage. He said "She spends 10 minutes getting ready in the morning and eight hours practising every day. She is such a natural talent that with Nicola the marketing could almost be invisible. It would be too easy to sell her on her looks.
"The European style has always been popular in America, but it's about giving her room to develop as an artist. It's about supply and demand.
"You have to remind yourself of how old she is, the extent to which she is still developing. It is about giving Nicola as much access to all those people who are interested in her, whether that be leading orchestra, composers or collaborators."
The violin prodigy already commands £10,000 for a 20-minute recital but, if Abbott's previous form is anything to go by, such sums could be dwarfed in future.
Abbott has masterminded the career of New Zealand teenage classical singer Hayley Westenra, whose album has sold two million copies to date.
In her homeland, it is the biggest-selling album of all time. In Japan she won the most popular classical artist of 2004 and two Japanese Grammies.
Last night, Dickon Stainer, the managing director of Benedetti's label, Universal Classics, confirmed the plans to put her on the world stage.
Stainer said: "We are the biggest classical music label in the world and Nicola is our burgeoning superstar and our brightest talent.
"It is unusual for a violinist to get the exposure that she gets. She is single-handedly dragging the violin into the 21st century.
"But when you see the amount of interest being generated by a violinist of her age, you realise that needs full-time attention. It can't be dealt with in a part-time way."
But Stainer is quick to deny the idea of anyone, management or production company, pulling Benedetti's strings.
"She has got a sense of her own identity. She is very mature and very determined. She has a very clear idea of what she wants and where she is going," he said.
"She is developing her career very sensibly. When she signed her six-album deal two years ago, she made sure that she had approval of all the repertoires on her albums. That was a smart move.
"She is still at the very early stages and we are committed to her long-term development. In the next 20 to 30 years she will have the most extraordinary career."
Scotland on Sunday can also reveal that Benedetti's new album will include a piece written specially for her by Scottish composer and conductor James MacMillan. Called 'From Ayrshire', the piece is MacMillan's personal ode to Benedetti.
Abbott said: "The collaboration with James MacMillan feels very natural. They have a professional respect for each other. He's from the same area in Ayrshire and they have a similar worldwide appeal." The new album's main work is the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.'From Ayrshire' and a new arrangement of Schubert's Serenade ('Leise Flehen Meine Lieder', D957) are conducted by MacMillan with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Completing the album is a harp and violin arrangement of Schubert's 'Ave Maria' and Mozart's Rondo K.373 & Adagio K.261, directed by Benedetti from the violin.
Benedetti's debut album, including the winning concerto, went straight to No 2 in the classical charts, beating the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Vanessa Mae and Anne-Sophie Mutter to become the fastest-selling debut violin album ever.
Benedetti told Scotland on Sunday in a recent interview: "The States takes a lot of work, but if someone can stand up and do a good job, that demands respect in its own right.
"There is no satisfaction in being up at the top immediately.
"The stress and expectation of a second album is even greater than my first, but I have to stick to my guns and present my kind of music."
She was also quick to deny any need to change her image to accommodate a more mainstream appeal, fobbing off comparisons with classically trained singer-turned pop vamp, Charlotte Church.
"Charlotte sounds great right now but it was very different for her. She's a singer, I'm still dedicated to practising the violin. I'm still not happy with my standard of playing."
Date of article 2nd April 2006
Richard
According to Scotland on Sunday, Steve Abbott is now Nicola Benedetti's day-to-day manager.
Svengali to pull strings as Benedetti goes global
ANNA MILLAR
ARTS CORRESPONDENT (annamillar@scotlandonsunday.com)
A LEADING music industry producer has been hired to work full-time on transforming Nicola Benedetti into a major international superstar.
Steve Abbott, who has produced albums for Jeff Buckley, Mercury Rev and child star Aled Jones, has vowed to make Benedetti a massive name in America and Japan, and to do it all without changing her image.
Abbott has taken over Benedetti's day-to-day management, development and PR from IMG Artists, who will continue to do her concert bookings.
While he is keen not to criticise IMG, Abbott, in an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, makes it clear Benedetti now deserves and needs round-the-clock support.
The 18-year-old from Ayr became a household name last year when she landed a £1m-plus, six-album record deal with Universal/Deutsche Grammophon following her win as BBC Young Musician of The Year.
While she has enjoyed notable success on the home front, former Sony Classics producer Abbott said it was time to give her access to leading composers, conductors and producers across the world.
He said: "When you are dealing with someone of Nicola's talents, the bigger picture has to be looked at.
"It is common with classical musicians for the manager to deal with a number of acts. With Nicola it's about having someone who can look after her 12 hours a day, six days a week."
He added: "Primarily, it's about developing her musically, but she has huge international potential. I could book her into America for a year right now, the demand is there. But it's about taking time and being proactive as well as reactive. It's about creating the demand for her as well as simply reacting to it."
Abbott condemned the widespread assumption that Benedetti's looks were the key to marketing her on the world stage. He said "She spends 10 minutes getting ready in the morning and eight hours practising every day. She is such a natural talent that with Nicola the marketing could almost be invisible. It would be too easy to sell her on her looks.
"The European style has always been popular in America, but it's about giving her room to develop as an artist. It's about supply and demand.
"You have to remind yourself of how old she is, the extent to which she is still developing. It is about giving Nicola as much access to all those people who are interested in her, whether that be leading orchestra, composers or collaborators."
The violin prodigy already commands £10,000 for a 20-minute recital but, if Abbott's previous form is anything to go by, such sums could be dwarfed in future.
Abbott has masterminded the career of New Zealand teenage classical singer Hayley Westenra, whose album has sold two million copies to date.
In her homeland, it is the biggest-selling album of all time. In Japan she won the most popular classical artist of 2004 and two Japanese Grammies.
Last night, Dickon Stainer, the managing director of Benedetti's label, Universal Classics, confirmed the plans to put her on the world stage.
Stainer said: "We are the biggest classical music label in the world and Nicola is our burgeoning superstar and our brightest talent.
"It is unusual for a violinist to get the exposure that she gets. She is single-handedly dragging the violin into the 21st century.
"But when you see the amount of interest being generated by a violinist of her age, you realise that needs full-time attention. It can't be dealt with in a part-time way."
But Stainer is quick to deny the idea of anyone, management or production company, pulling Benedetti's strings.
"She has got a sense of her own identity. She is very mature and very determined. She has a very clear idea of what she wants and where she is going," he said.
"She is developing her career very sensibly. When she signed her six-album deal two years ago, she made sure that she had approval of all the repertoires on her albums. That was a smart move.
"She is still at the very early stages and we are committed to her long-term development. In the next 20 to 30 years she will have the most extraordinary career."
Scotland on Sunday can also reveal that Benedetti's new album will include a piece written specially for her by Scottish composer and conductor James MacMillan. Called 'From Ayrshire', the piece is MacMillan's personal ode to Benedetti.
Abbott said: "The collaboration with James MacMillan feels very natural. They have a professional respect for each other. He's from the same area in Ayrshire and they have a similar worldwide appeal." The new album's main work is the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.'From Ayrshire' and a new arrangement of Schubert's Serenade ('Leise Flehen Meine Lieder', D957) are conducted by MacMillan with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Completing the album is a harp and violin arrangement of Schubert's 'Ave Maria' and Mozart's Rondo K.373 & Adagio K.261, directed by Benedetti from the violin.
Benedetti's debut album, including the winning concerto, went straight to No 2 in the classical charts, beating the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Vanessa Mae and Anne-Sophie Mutter to become the fastest-selling debut violin album ever.
Benedetti told Scotland on Sunday in a recent interview: "The States takes a lot of work, but if someone can stand up and do a good job, that demands respect in its own right.
"There is no satisfaction in being up at the top immediately.
"The stress and expectation of a second album is even greater than my first, but I have to stick to my guns and present my kind of music."
She was also quick to deny any need to change her image to accommodate a more mainstream appeal, fobbing off comparisons with classically trained singer-turned pop vamp, Charlotte Church.
"Charlotte sounds great right now but it was very different for her. She's a singer, I'm still dedicated to practising the violin. I'm still not happy with my standard of playing."
Date of article 2nd April 2006
Richard
