Artist Managers: Remembering David Sigall

CM readers will have noted the obituary of leading artist manager David Sigall, detailing his decades-long service at the Ingpen & Williams office as well his prominent role in the International Artist Managers’ Association which stretched back to his chairmanship of forerunner organisation, the British Association of Concert Agents. Below, tributes from those who worked closely with David in both contexts.

Jonathan Groves: managing director, Groves Artists

David and I worked side-by-side at Ingpen & Williams for 42 years. Although temperamentally very different, we always saw eye-to-eye and never had an argument. One of David’s greatest gifts was being able to live in the moment… always having time, never ever being rushed. This enabled him to forge close relationships with his artists — they appreciated the fact that he really saw the importance of understanding just who they were, what particular priorities they had in life. Always having time also meant he was able to develop strong friendships among his contacts in promoting organisations around the world — they really enjoyed his company and as a result were more likely to value his advice when it came to the artists he represented…a more subtle but highly effective approach to management. He was a wonderful friend, companion and support. I miss him keenly.

Hilary Summers, contralto: formerly managed by DS

David was such an important influence in my life — a wise, dashing silver fox who nurtured my career and cared about me as a human being as well as an artist. He had a dry but fabulous sense of humour and we would roar with laughter, usually in very inappropriate situations. He held legendary dinner parties and was a real bon viveur. I felt so privileged having him as an agent. Most of my colleagues moaned constantly about their managements, but I loved his laconic easy manner and thrived under his guidance. He was especially keen on contemporary music and was every bit as delighted as I was when Pierre Boulez booked me to work with him. He wasn’t so ardent about baroque, however, so we had a pact that he didn’t have to come and hear me sing Handel as long as he took me for dinner to make up for it!

Nicki Wenham: artist manager, Rayfield Allied Ltd, formerly with Ingpen & Williams

David took me under his wing in 2008 when I joined Ingpen & Williams as his assistant, working alongside him on around thirty amazingly talented and varied artists including Pierre Boulez, Richard Bonynge, Joanna MacGregor, Barrie Kosky and Markus Stenz — as well as bringing the Chicago Symphony and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to the UK. I learnt so much from him and he gave me the courage and confidence to be the manager I try to be today.  It’s thanks to him that I still represent some of these wonderful artists.

David was a true gentleman — eloquent, wise, stylish, generous and always having time for everyone.  Above all he had a wonderful sense of humour. I’ll always remember the countless stories he’d tell about his old mentor and boss Howard Hartog, as well as some of the artists he used to manage, such as Jesse Norman and Joan Sutherland. I’ll miss him terribly.

Cornelia Schmid: Hannover-based managing director, Konzertdirektion Schmid/chairman, International Artist Managers’ Association

I met David when I came to London in the mid-1980s to make my first steps in the agency world at the Harold Holt office. I had the incredible luck to live for several weeks in Howard Hartog’s flat at Kensington Court above the Ingpen & Williams office. I often chattedwith David, who willingly shared all his experience and wisdom…of which he had a great deal. He was the epitome of the English gentleman — refined, charming, understated and witty, while at the same time warm-hearted, honest and very generous. He was a shining example for a whole generation of artist managers, including myself. David has a very special place in my heart.

Virginia Braden OAM: retired Australian artist manager, formerly chairman of IAMA

I had so many laughs and good times with my great friend and colleague DS, as I called him. It began when I decided to join the British Association of Concert Agents for professional support. Soon it became apparent that many managers of other nationalities wanted to join the Association too and eventually David was amongst those who successfully spearheaded plans to change the Association’s name to International Artist Managers’ Association. He chaired it, as I did later. He was a friend to a number of Australians working in the business — he liked coming to Australia and visited several times. David was a great mentor and supporter; a man of terrific ideas and a great sense of humour. He will be greatly missed by me and many. He was unique.

 Helen Sykes: Helen Sykes Artists’ Management/deputy chair, IAMA

 David was such an influence in our profession over so many years that it really feels like the passing of a generation.  His commitment extended beyond managing the fine list of artists entrusted to him, to mentoring many of us as we took our first steps as fledgling managers joining the ranks of BACA/IAMA.  His role in the ‘internationalisation’ of the organisation was pivotal. That sense of humour frequently brightened meetings which risked getting mired in dry detail!

Atholl Swainston-Harrison: chief executive, IAMA

I couldn’t have had a more supportive board member than David. He was generous and non-patronising, always ready with a word of advice or simple wisdom. One day, after looking through the minutes of IAMA’s forerunner, the British Association of Concert Agents, I noticed David had served with a great-aunt of mine on the BACA dispute committee, handling a problem between two member artist managements. I rang him up and asked if he remembered the details. He did and his comment was sage: ‘It’s necessary to have an association because it keeps things on some sort of ordered path’. His point was that the prospect of having a dispute adjudicated in front of an IAMA committee was often, as here, enough to spur a settlement. One example of David always drawing people together.

Joeske van Walsum: co-founder, MaestroArts/friend of DS.

I became a good friend of David’s when on the spur of the moment he joined me on a five-day road-trip around remote parts of the Rockies after we’d both been at a conference in Chicago. I’ll never forget his utter horror on arrival at a hotel in the back of beyond — after a very long day’s drive — to discover there wasn’t a bar within a hundred miles! Subsequently he decided he’d like to share my love of canoeing, buying top-of-the-range gear including a dry-suit. His problem was not really being built to sit in a canoe and one day during an expedition in France he fell out into really rough water. He was swept downstream but just managed to get himself ashore…whereupon he pulled off his dry-suit to reveal underneath an immaculate jacket and bow-tie! That was David…