(Copyright © 1997 T Bruce Tober)
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
T. S. Eliot 1888-1965 Collected Poems (1936) 'Burnt Norton'
The opportunities lost, the careers halted before they'd even begun, the music never enjoyed. Such would be the ramifications if The European Concert Halls Organisation (ECHO) had never existed.
Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the chief executives of 14 of the world's most well-respected concert halls, ECHO, and its Rising Stars (RS) program does exist. An informal organisation, was founded in 1991 during a meeting in Amsterdam. The Rising Stars program was started three years ago during one of the organisation's biennial meetings, according to Andrew Jowett, director of the Symphony Hall Birmingham and a founder of both ECHO and the RS program.
Imagine the reception given a young, talented musician by orchestras, agents, managers, the
music world in general, whose CV lists performances at such venues as Symphony Hall Birmingham, Kölner Philharmonie,
Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Stockholm's Konserthus, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Musikverein Wien and Carnegie Hall New
York. Those are the venues at which each of the six Rising Stars perform in each year's series.
We decided that we had a unique opportunity to provide some of the best emerging talent, those on the verge of international careers, with the chance to show off their talents in the best possible way, by performing in the world's great halls," Jowett explains. They have to have initiative, he continues, citing as an example the UK's Philip Dukes, violist in this year's series. "Dukes has a problem, the repertoire for viola is somewhat limited. And so he's actually commissioned his own works and paid for them himself."
Participants are chosen without audition, Jowett says. They are recommended by word of mouth, by reputation. Each member nominates a performer or group to Annette Mangold at Konzerthaus Wien, who has the unenviable task of coordinating all of this."
Ms Mangold not only makes the final selection of performers, but she also coordinates who's going to perform where and when. All performers are paid a standard flat rate and are provided with flights and hotel accommodations, all costs for the latter being pooled and shared amongst the ECHO members.
Performers set their own programmes within certain limits. For example the Yggdrasil Quartet during its tour will perform Franz Berwald's "String Quartet No 3 in E-flat major" at all venues. But when it plays Stockholm (22 March) it will perform a programme also featuring Jan Leifs' "String Quartet No 1 op 21" and Jean Sibelius' "String Quartet in D minor op 56".
Although there is no further commitment on ECHO's part towards the Rising Stars performers beyond the year's worth of performances, "we see the program as having tremendous potential to further their careers and that is our sole aim".