Artist Managers: Branching out

A mid-June unveiling at the Royal Academy of Music of Bach III. It’s the latest Bach sculpture by multi-talented German painter, costume and set designer and sculptor Alexander Polzin. And what a thing it is, enhanced by the visual drama of the ‘fire gilding’ process whereby gold is applied to a bronze surface. RAM Principal Jonathan Freeman-Attwood describes the work as an ‘endlessly fascinating 360-degree essay in Johann Sebastian Bach [which] awe-inspiringly projects the composer’s impact on the world.’

Previous iterations of Polzin’s Bach series have been purchased by the likes of pianist Alfred Brendel, but for his part, the artist can’t quite believe he had the nerve to set out on this odyssey: ‘The difficulty is that I see Bach as the God of music and it’s problematical whether you can create an image of God.’ This Bach worship goes all the way back to Polzin’s falling-in-love with The Art of Fugue in teenage years.

However, my reason for tracking Polzin down for a chat via Zoom in an airport departure lounge is to talk about the fact that he’s represented by Maestro Arts. Since its inception more than a decade ago, the London-based artist management has carved out a reputation for working not just with musical performers but set and costume designers, stage directors and visual artists, with Polzin’s artist and sculptor roles offering an added dimension. ‘Maestro Arts offered an unusual thing; this pioneering role in working across different art forms, combining them where possible,’ Polzin recalls. ‘This was very attractive for me. It’s been a learning curve on both sides. Different art forms can be far too closed off from each other. For one thing, it’s still very difficult for concert halls to handle all the aspects required for a multi-art form performance.’

© Pierre Boulez Saal, Marcus Lieberenz

Polzin is represented at Maestro Arts by Rachel van Walsum, who co-founded the company with her husband, Joeske van Walsum. The couple re-entered the profession having sold their previous company, van Walsum Management, after an extended sabbatical. ‘After this break we found we had an enthusiasm for setting up an artist management company which took what you could call an ‘atelier’ approach, drawing in art forms beyond music. In the past we’d represented Esa-Pekka Salonen and worked on a project in which video by Bill Viola was incorporated into a production of Tristan und Isolde directed by Peter Sellars. This was workshopped and performed in Los Angeles and premiered at the Paris Opera. This seemed to point a way forward for us.’

Cut to the present. Alongside the musical performers on the current Maestro Arts list are the likes of theatre and opera costume designer Jean-Jacques Delmotte, theatre and opera designer Barbara de Limburg and animator and illustrator Grégoire Pont. Alexander Polzin came on board via a recommendation from Belgian opera director and administrator Gerard Mortier, who had engaged the German to create set designs for productions in Salzburg and Madrid. One of the challenges for Rachel van Walsum has been learning how best to interact with art galleries internationally on Polzin’s behalf, embracing unfamiliar ways of doing business. Not easy, either, pulling together multi-art form projects in the concert hall. A collaboration with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra rested in large part on the enthusiasm of art-collecting conductor, Eivind Aadland. A Geography of Lies, a ‘visualisation’ of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt drama matched with the music of Grieg, involved video projection originating in complex works of art from Polzin’s studio.

2023 saw something very different at Snape Maltings. The Art of Being Human found Polzin joining forces with the chamber ensemble Phantasm and five dancers (choreographed by Sommer Ulrickson) to explore the healing potential of art, focused on visual terms around five Polzin sculptures. ‘After every performance the audience gravitated towards the sculptures,’ van Walsum recalls, ‘touching them, “interacting” with them. Really amazing.’

© Mat Collishaw​

Among van Walsum’s other clients is video artist Mat Collishaw. Sky Burial, his take on the Fauré Requiem is set up to allow images to be precisely aligned with the tempi chosen in any one performance. Collishaw has reflected on the powerful effect of classical music in the concert hall. ‘If I can create something on top of that, that takes people to another place,’ he says, this ‘might make classical music more inviting for people who wouldn’t normally go.’

Key in all of this, van Walsum insists, is the artist manager playing a role which promotes and supports a true collaboration between those representing different art forms. ‘There’s nothing worse than one individual creating something which is just ‘bolted-onto’ a performance, like a back-projection behind an orchestra that doesn’t breathe with or relate to the music in performance.’

Yes, collaboration consumes time and thus requires cash. ‘The usual scenario in a concert venue is for the musicians to turn up for a final rehearsal, give the performance, then that’s that,’ Polzin observes. ‘But if you’re going to introduce other art forms, then this requires additional rehearsal time for all involved. That has to be paid for.’

The hope must thus be that, going forward, such projects will have a special appeal to sponsors and will prove to have global touring potential. The opportunity is there, adds Polzin, to tap the potential for new, young concertgoers. ‘After all, their engagement with popular music almost always comes with a visual aspect. If we continue thinking of different art forms as isolated experiences, we run the risk of losing the audiences of the future.’

That can include audiences for contemporary music. Polzin references his longstanding fascination with the extensive piano repertoire of György Kurtág. ‘His pieces carry titles and dedications, but the individual numbers are often so short it’s impossible for audiences to take them in. They beg some kind of visual element, making them more attractive in performance.’

Could this mean more collaborative projects in museums and art galleries? Let’s hope so. Rachel van Walsum is also keen to work on further projects which focus on static sculpture. ‘There are not only Alexander’s Bach sculptures but his series on angels. It will be fascinating to see if we can use such art works as the focal point of a performance in such a fashion that you hear the music in a different way.’ Van Walsum is convinced that this area of artist management expertise can be a significant element in the future of performance. ‘But there’s no point in an orchestra, say, dabbling in this area because it’s something they feel they should do. They have to really commit time and resources, and oversee a collaborative process.’

Meanwhile, Alexander Polzin’s sculptural-spiritual communion with his God, Bach, continues: ‘I’ve no idea where this journey will end.’