ANDY AKIHO & SANDBOX PERCUSSION
Challenge: Introduce Andy Akiho’s new and ambitious eleven-movement multimedia work – Seven Pillars – performed by Sandbox Percussion to reach audiences beyond the world premiere and world premiere recording.
Results: Seven Pillars is featured by The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, and more, receives a 2022 Grammy nomination, and is a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist. It continues to be performed around the globe to great critical acclaim.
BRAVO! VAIL
Challenge: Introduce Bravo! Vail’s new staged opera initiative in 2019
Results: Brought journalist from Opera Now to Vail, resulting in a cover feature, preview, and review + articles in Operawire. A New York Times journalist visited during a later season, resulting in inclusion in a major feature on summer classical festivals.
YEETHOVEN
Challenge: Create awareness and interest in series of Beethoven/Kanye West mash-up concerts in Los Angeles and New York City led by conductor Yuga Cohler and composer-arranger Johan
Results: Press and viral explosion leading to sold-out concerts and features in a multitude of outlets including: TIME, Agence France Presse, Los Angeles Magazine, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, GQ, and more!
THE CLIBURN 2022 WINNER – YUNCHAN LIM
Challenge: Introduce a very young pianist who won The Cliburn in 2022 to the world
Results: The New York Times attended the finals and wrote a feature on the 2022 winners. Associated Press (AP) also covered Yunchan’s first place win, which many outlets syndicated. A viral video of Yunchan’s concerto performance from the final round of the competition has reached over 12 million viewers.
YOUTH MUSIC CULTURE GUANGDONG
Challenge: Publicize the launch and annual occurrence of Youth Music Culture Guangdong, a week-long festival in Guangzhou with Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma
Results: Organized annual press trips with editors of Strings Magazine, Gramophone Magazine, Limelight Magazine, and BBC Music Magazine, resulting in 3 cover stories
“FORGOTTEN SOUNDS”:
MARTIN LOEFFLER'S OCTET RESURRECTED
Challenge: Introduce to the world a long-forgotten piece for eight instruments by American composer Martin Loeffler that lay dormant for more than 125 years, until clarinetists Graeme Steele Johnson unearthed it during the pandemic, tracked down the manuscript to the Library of Congress, and revised and edited it for a critically successful recording and several live performances.
Results: Top-tier coverage of this fabulous project of “musical archaeology,” as Johnson calls it, leading with The Washington Post; The Times of London, which selected the recording, forgotten sounds, as one of the best classical albums of 2024; and also first-rank classical music publications that included Gramophone, The Strad (both U.K.-based), and The Boston Musical Intelligencer.