Mr. Chris Williamson

The man behind the festival, and the advertisement, is Chris Williamson, who describes himself as a semiretired rock promoter with an abiding interest in classical music.Mr. Williamson has lots of ideas about how to reconfigure the classical concert world and is using his festival to test several of them.One is to lure new listeners to serious programs of traditional and contemporary music with low ticket prices. (Most seats are going for $10, compared with traditional prices of $50 and up.) He is also promoting fresh talent by presenting young pianists as opening acts for their more famous colleagues.

The bill Mr. Williamson has assembled would be a draw even if it were presented more conventionally.
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Mr. Williamson said that 65 percent of the tickets for each concert would sell for $10.The rest are priced up to $40, except Mr. Wild's opening concert, whose top price is $60.

Mr. Williamson, who is 50 and lives on a houseboat moored at the 79th Street Boat Basin, concedes that classical music presentation tends to be more reserved.But he was intent on catching the attention of potential ticket buyers who are not normally drawn to piano recitals.Specifically, he wants to reach the listeners who went to the rock, punk, hardcore, alternative and rap shows he used to present at Irving Plaza and the Ritz, and before that at Chase Park and the Jane West Hotel.

"You see that skull in the ad?"Mr. Williamson asked."I'd put that in the paper with a date and not even list a band, and we'd sell out."

More unusual than Mr. Williamson's advertising style, though, is his business model: he is opposed to underwriting concerts with grant money, a standard approach in the classical music world.Instead he is covering the costs - everything from hall rentals to flying the pianists to New York and putting them up - himself.
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Mr. Williamson is no newcomer to classical music.In the early 1970's, he was a student of the pianist Beveridge Webster at the Juilliard School.But his interests at the time were veering in other directions.He began spending his time at Max's Kansas City, the seminal New York rock club of the era, rather than in the practice room, and eventually dropped out of Juilliard.After managing Studio 54 from 1977 to 1980, he began presenting shows at Chase Park, a club in SoHo.His principal interest then was English punk bands, but he also presented an early show by Madonna.

From there he moved to the ballroom of the Jane West Hotel, where he presented bands like Bad Brains, Black Flag and Social Distortion, and to the Ritz, where he offered shows by alternative groups like Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.He also promoted shows at Irving Plaza, and he started a record company, Rock Hotel Records, which was associated with Profile, a rap label.That put him in touch with the managers for several rap performers, whom Mr. Williamson presented downtown at the World, and at Madison Square Garden.

"Then things started drying up," he said.
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"What came from all this," Mr. Williamson said, "was that I started thinking, what can I do for the piano?
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In addition to having the pianists play for a percentage of the gate, Mr. Williamson is saving money by presenting his events in nonunion houses, and having volunteers, including Juilliard students, handling tasks ranging from ushering to approaching composers with offers of commissions.Those measures are necessary to keep the ticket prices low, Mr. Williamson explained.

"I see a couple of problems in the way the classical music business is run," he said.

The man behind the festival, and the advertisement, is Chris Williamson, who describes himself as a semiretired rock promoter with an abiding interest in classicalmusic.Mr. Williamson has lots of ideas about how to reconfigure the classical concert world and is using his festival to test several of them.One is to lure newlisteners to serious programs of traditional and contemporary music with low ticket prices. (Most seats are going for $10, compared with traditional prices of $50 andup.) He is also promoting fresh talent by presenting young pianists as opening acts for their more famous colleagues.

The bill Mr. Williamson has assembled would be a draw even if it were presented more conventionally.
...
Mr. Williamson said that 65 percent of the tickets for each concert would sell for $10.The rest are priced up to $40, except Mr.Wild's opening concert, whose top price is $60.

Mr. Williamson, who is 50 and lives on a houseboat moored at the 79th Street Boat Basin, concedes that classical music presentation tends to be more reserved.Buthe was intent on catching the attention of potential ticket buyers who are not normally drawn to piano recitals.Specifically, he wants to reach the listeners who went tothe rock, punk, hardcore, alternative and rap shows he used to present at Irving Plaza and the Ritz, and before that at Chase Park and the Jane West Hotel.

"You see that skull in the ad?"Mr. Williamson asked."I'd put that in the paper with a date and not even list a band, and we'd sell out."

More unusual than Mr. Williamson's advertising style, though, is his business model: he is opposed to underwriting concerts with grant money, a standard approach inthe classical music world.Instead he is covering the costs - everything from hall rentals to flying the pianists to New York and putting them up - himself.
...
Mr. Williamson is no newcomer to classical music.In the early 1970's, he was a student of the pianist Beveridge Webster at the Juilliard School.But his interests atthe time were veering in other directions.He began spending his time at Max's Kansas City, the seminal New York rock club of the era, rather than in the practiceroom, and eventually dropped out of Juilliard.After managing Studio 54 from 1977 to 1980, he began presenting shows at Chase Park, a club in SoHo.His principalinterest then was English punk bands, but he also presented an early show by Madonna.

From there he moved to the ballroom of the Jane West Hotel, where he presented bands like Bad Brains, Black Flag and Social Distortion, and to the Ritz, where heoffered shows by alternative groups like Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.He also promoted shows at Irving Plaza, and he started a record company, RockHotel Records, which was associated with Profile, a rap label.That put him in touch with the managers for several rap performers, whom Mr. Williamson presenteddowntown at the World, and at Madison Square Garden.

"Then things started drying up," he said."Companies like Clear Channel began buying up promoters, but I always wanted to be on my own.I couldn't see myself in acorporate situation.And all the stuff coming up - the boy bands, for example - made me nauseous.So I decided to stop.And I started playing the piano again."
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"What came from all this," Mr. Williamson said, "was that I started thinking, what can I do for the piano?And that led me to think about when I was in school, and Iknew all these kids who had tremendous talent and not a lot of opportunity.In rock, you form a band and play every club, everything you can do, and if you getbetter, you get asked to open a show for a bigger band, and you play for a larger audience."

"But it's not that way in classical music," he continued.
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In addition to having the pianists play for a percentage of the gate, Mr. Williamson is saving money by presenting his events in nonunion houses, and having volunteers,including Juilliard students, handling tasks ranging from ushering to approaching composers with offers of commissions.Those measures are necessary to keep theticket prices low, Mr. Williamson explained.

"I see a couple of problems in the way the classical music business is run," he said."One is the subscription business - the belief that people will want to seewhatever is handed to them.The other is that for institutions to present something wonderful and esoteric, but to lose money doing it, doesn't really help.If you canbring something in and work it out so that it turns a buck, then you're going someplace.We're not relying on grants or sponsors.