Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
#247: Ada Witczyk (Violinist) (pt. 2 of 2)
This week on the podcast is part two of our interview with International prize-winning violinist Ada Witczyk. She’s a dual citizen of Poland and Britain, and is the recipient of numerous awards such as the Henry Wood Award, the Star Award by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, and the Margot MacGibbon Award. As both a modern and baroque violinist, Ada has performed at many of the UK’s most prestigious venues and festivals including Buckingham Palace, Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Royal Albert Hall. Ada has performed with renowned ensembles such as the Gabrieli Consort, The English Concert, and The Academy of Ancient Music.
Ada gives us a sneak peek into her fascinating world of music and business. Ada, a dual citizen of Poland and Britain, isn't just an ordinary violinist but an International Prize-winner who's now on a mission to promote baroque violin compositions. From booking concerts and negotiating contracts to managing logistics, Ada shines the spotlight on the challenging yet rewarding path of arts entrepreneurship.
Ada shares how she converted the hurdles on her path into stepping stones towards success. Ada's advice to budding artists and entrepreneurs alike is invaluable, highlighting the importance of real-life exposure and learning from professionals. She also gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming album featuring five diverse artists and her intriguing film recording project. So, come, join us in this captivating journey and get inspired by Ada's passion and resilience.
Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast. Making Art Work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts Andy Heise and Nick Petrella.
Andy Heise:Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heise and I'm Nick.
Nick Petrella:Petrella International Prize-winning violinist Ada Witczyk is with us today. She's a dual citizen of Poland and Britain and is the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Henry Wood Award, the Star Award by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Margo McGibbon Award. As both a modern and baroque violinist, ada has performed at many of the UK's most prestigious venues and festivals, including Buckingham Palace, royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Royal Albert Hall. Ada has performed with renowned ensembles such as the Gabriele Concert, the English Concert and the Academy of Ancient Music. Ada is kindly supported by help musicians and is extremely grateful for the generous loan of an 18th century Criminese violin from the Harrison Frank Foundation. We'll have her website and the show notes so you can learn more about Ada's accomplishments and activities and the competition she founded to encourage new music for the baroque violin. Ada, thanks so much for being with us today.
Ada Witczyk:Thank you so much for giving me the chance to speak with you guys.
Andy Heise:Can you tell us a little bit about the album that you have coming out the end of this year, 2023?
Ada Witczyk:Sure. So I have commissioned separately out of the competition, but the first five winners to compose five new solo works for baroque violin, and so I have asked Samuel Howley, eric Wildermann, skult Massimo Delillo, alex Pettschacht and Oscar Teister to write five new works, and they are all very, very different from each other because they are all very different artists, and I'm super excited these works have already been produced and now we're just working on the booklet and the look of the album and all those little cosmetic things, and I can't wait for people to be able to hear it.
Andy Heise:And so these recordings are new music for period instruments. Is that still the theme for this, correct?
Ada Witczyk:Somehow the name New Baroque was born along the process and so that kind of stick to the type of music that I'm making.
Andy Heise:New Baroque. I can see that as a new genre on the Spotify app, the music app right. Yeah, you'll be the main artist in that section probably.
Ada Witczyk:You'll own that. You'll be the only one. Yeah, that'll be awesome. See yeah absolutely Thank you.
Nick Petrella:So I have a two-part question for you. Do you book your own performances or do you have management? And if you do the booking, do you find it challenging in any way?
Ada Witczyk:I definitely find it challenging. After a degree, I really hope one day I will have help and management to do this kind of things. Up to now, it was a mixture of some people coming across my work on Instagram, on YouTube, social media, and booking me for things, having discovered Vee De or me reaching out and proposing the idea of new music to venues and festivals, and so it does take quite a lot of work, and so you know this again, another side of being your own administrator on top of all the other hours takes so much of the time and energy that I really appreciate the difficult job that agents have because it's a full-time position and then you know, hopefully in the future I will be able to delegate that.
Nick Petrella:So the challenges, you would say, are more time management, not necessarily that you don't have an affinity to cold call.
Ada Witczyk:Well, perhaps there is much more to it. I didn't mention this, obviously the logistics, that I don't have an experience in negotiating contracts, that I might be a bit shy. You know talking about myself, which is very difficult because it's easier when somebody else you know explains and then you just showcase your music yourself. There is organizing travels. I've just came back from a US tour, so in order to book it myself and go myself and practice you know all of that I was so much more to make it happen. So, yes, it's a very complex task, I think.
Nick Petrella:And that's you know. Part of the podcast is to help people who want to become entrepreneurs and those who are in it just starting out and hearing from people like yourself and that the challenges they're facing are the challenges that everyone faces. And how do you cope with it? How do you adjust? Sounds like you just keep doing it.
Ada Witczyk:Yes, it's definitely not an easy way to live being a musician, because not only we are in a full-time education, sometimes for just under 20 years, and then you, having studied for so long, you face the realities of the profession. And myself, coming from a totally non-musical family, I had no idea how things work, and so you have to work it out to find your first jobs, jobs that don't necessarily are what you were hoping to be, but to first, you know, maintain your living. So, yeah, it's, you know it's so many layers to it. Always say that, whatever it is that you want to do, it would really be a good idea to shadow somebody in the profession that you're interested to see firsthand what the life is like if you have such an opportunity, because it's different to imagine something other than just see it firsthand.
Nick Petrella:It's a good idea.
Ada Witczyk:Yeah.
Nick Petrella:You recently completed an ambitious film recording project. How was that project funded, and did you or do you retain artistic control?
Ada Witczyk:So majority, if not all, of the contemporary music on Burke file in Recorded, turned into films on my youtube channel are the winning pieces of the Ruzicopa Composition competition, and since this competition is now running in its fourth year, we have since produced seven music videos. And so the competition artistic brains are, you know myself just thinking of division. Then Nicholas Hardesty is the the, the spine behind all the logistics and thinking what is possible. And then Simon helping the filmmaker, he takes over once the music is recorded in all the version and he turns it into movies. And so every year we have discussions on how and what will these music pieces present visually? So Simon always first asks the composers you know, where the Idea behind the piece came from.
Ada Witczyk:So the visuals can still, you know, connect closely to who they are as people and what they are about when the music is about, and then also being visually attractive for modern audiences as we Spoken, because we are Not trying to do what we are used to as classical musicians, but what people who might consider Listening a bit more would like to see first. So, yeah, you can find all these videos on YouTube and definitely let me know what you think in comments.
Nick Petrella:Yeah, for sure. I will link to the YouTube channel. Yeah absolutely.
Andy Heise:Um, and so the audio for the videos is it recorded in the field where you're actually making the video, or is it a pre-recorded studio or whatever, in a controlled environment and then dubbed for the video?
Ada Witczyk:Yes, we always do them separately because sometimes filming in locations that might be outside or might be not as that strength friendly, we ideally record period instruments in old tratches because they support the sound to its best high quality and then, having got the audio recording, we play to it while we create visuals.
Andy Heise:Gotcha, and as you alluded to, the settings for these videos are not what most classical music fans would maybe expect from a video that features classical music or new music. Can you talk a little bit about some of those locations and maybe the decisions that went behind them to choose those locations?
Ada Witczyk:Sure, well, to start with, the very first year when we were realizing our three films, it was a bit of a funny situation. So during the very first lockdown, when everyone was stuck in their homes, filming was actually allowed. So not only were we trying to find unusual setting for these films, we were also getting with well, who was happy to let us in when the whole country was saying inside their house and the streets were absolutely empty. So we filmed Austin at 9.7 by Oscar O'Taiso in a boxing ring, because it's a song of a fighter, you know, it's a piece about overcoming all those difficulties that a individual might face in their life. So that was very matching as a very direct visual for that fight with difficulties.
Ada Witczyk:Then we filmed Yellow by Samuel Harley in an underground car park, because not only well, it was available, as cold as that was, because it was January in London, as you can imagine but Sam was describing how, meeting with his friends to sing with his choir members when that was allowed, and how much happiness it brought to his life having been separated from a majority of people during COVID. We kind of created this meeting in this very rough area and then there was a person lacking from the outside and some little fairy lights showcasing the hope for the better tomorrow. And also we filmed the Spectre by Eric Wildemore School in a random church, because Spectre is about ghosts from the past. So there I am, sometimes three, four or five times on the screen at once, kind of creating the ghostly image with funny special effects.
Andy Heise:So yeah, yeah, that's really interesting and that explains. I saw the one in the boxing ring but it took me a minute to realize. But you have bandages and stuff on too, like you finished the fight or something. At first I was like what's that about? And then you realize kind of the setting is like okay, negotiate.
Ada Witczyk:Yeah.
Nick Petrella:You seem to have a variety of interests as a musician. Do you need that to feel fulfilled, or could you be happy only playing contemporary or baroque violin or organizing the competition?
Ada Witczyk:I think as a person, I in particular don't like being bored and not challenged, which is not an easy way to be as a person. But even starting with music, I play both types of violin equally, both baroque and modern, because I like the variety and sometimes people ask me, what kind of music do I especially like? And not being cheeky, but I just like all music. I like the music that I enjoy in the moment. If it's new, refreshing and challenging, then even better. And then what I present on social media is the work side of things and in my personal life there are so much more other things to still keep me entertained. I am a book nerd and I keep reading and I love historical sites and going to new places. I've just started learning tennis, so I think it's just a personal preference on being always challenged and keep things interesting, I guess.
Andy Heise:Well, Adil, we've reached the part of the interview where we ask all of our interviewees the same three questions, and the first question is what advice would you give to others wanting to become an arts entrepreneur?
Ada Witczyk:I would say if you want to be successful, at least have the highest chances of being successful. Work harder than anybody who knows that does the same thing that you do, but then also don't shy away from asking for help, especially those people who might have went through the same hurdles as you did, because they will most likely be very happy to help you.
Nick Petrella:What can we do to ensure the arts are more accessible and reaching the widest possible audience?
Ada Witczyk:Probably thinking that it's all about the audience, not about us. So when you are trying to program a concert, don't think, oh, what would I like to play today? It's all about what the audience will be happy to listen to and, of course, try to meet two worlds in the middle. But the audience is constantly changing. So I think sometimes classical music profession feels like it likes doing things in a way that have been done 200 years ago. But as nice as it may be sometimes to feel secure in what we know and what we have observed, sometimes we can, I guess, discover new avenues If we just think about who's a four like, what is this doing and what would people be interested in seeing or watching or whatever.
Andy Heise:We don't usually follow up questions on these last three, but I do want to add do you have an example of a program where you maybe took that approach and said well, what would be interesting to this audience that I'm going to play for and what could we program around that?
Ada Witczyk:Sure, as I said, I come from a non-musical family where, with the best intentions, people around me who have seen me doing this for many years would have absolutely no idea and wouldn't understand. So I have the experience of knowing that if you program music that people can connect to and perhaps if you describe prior to what the music is about, and if the music imitates things such as nature or emotional story or personal story behind a piece that people kind of knowing a bit better how to connect with it, it's easier for them to understand it and therefore maybe like it or give a chance again. Great Thanks.
Andy Heise:So what's the best artistic or entrepreneurial advice anyone's ever given you?
Ada Witczyk:Well, to be very honest, I've come across quite a lot of negativity and doubt in my life, especially during my educational years. I have learned to use it as a motivation to work even harder. So you just, whatever the feedback is, I guess what I'm saying is that you can always learn something, as difficult as something might be or is unhelpful in the moment. You yourself can find and okay, what it is that I can still do better while I keep pursuing what it is that I love doing, and then I guess you're still going to learn.
Andy Heise:Yeah, it's a great perspective.
Nick Petrella:Well, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Your passion and dedication to New Baroque is encouraging, I think, to anyone who's interested in classical music.
Ada Witczyk:Well, thank you so much. What you guys are doing, you know, interviewing such a wide range of people who do so many different things. I had a pleasure and I've listened to a couple of episodes and it's fantastic because they are also different from each other and you guys ask, you know, the very interesting questions. So you know, it's been pleasure on my side.
Andy Heise:Well, thank you so much for your time.
Announcer:Thank you.
