The Business of Music
by Jeanne McConnell, National Endowment for the Arts
"Life goals: To accompany and sing classical concerts and opera programs in an international forum."
"Founded and managed by James Jelasic and Jon Lackey, two world acclaimed classical musicians with graduate degrees in music performance and 40 years combined experience in the entertainment industry, Black Tie Arts Management is a leader in the field of customizing fine artistry to complement any function including inaugural balls, conventions, parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, and elegant weddings."
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| Jon Lackey |
For Jon Lackey and James Jelasic, those two statements seem logical and connected today, but the realization of life dreams has come only after years of study, practice, hard work, performance and experience mixed with reality checks, disappointments, and the ability to adapt and change.
Jon Lackey started music lessons in the 4th grade in Seattle. From age 10 forward, he pursued music through public and private lessons in voice, piano, violin, trumpet, even bass drum (which featured the only teacher who discouraged a career in music!). He went on full scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University as a music major in vocal performance.
James Jelasic started his musical training in the Detroit area with piano lessons at age 6. Practicing daily for hours through grammar and high school, he was so accomplished by age 18 that he won a competition and was a featured concert soloist with the Detroit Symphony. He, too, won a full college scholarship, majoring in music performance at Eastern Michigan University.
After graduation, both Lackey and Jelasic stayed in academic environments for a few years. Lackey was hired as a voice teacher at Pacific Lutheran, and then later joined the U.S. Air Force Singing Sargeants and moved to Washington, DC. Jelasic went on for his Master of Music degree in Accompanying and Chamber Music. Both men continued to pursue their goals of performing classical music in concert settings, working with symphony orchestras, opera and theater groups. They also played background piano in hotels and restaurants and taught piano and voice.
The Blossom Music Festival at Kent State University was a turning point in their lives. Both won spots in the prestigious competition and worked together during the six-week course. In 1985, when Lackey won the National Federation of Music Clubs National Competition and moved to Munich to perform, Jelasic joined him as his accompanist.
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| James Jelasic |
While in Munich studying with Ernst Haefliger, they found themselves at another turning point. Lackey was chosen for the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program in New York, while Jelasic received word he had been chosen as a Fulbright Scholar to do advanced research with Gerard Souzay in Paris. They decided to go together to Paris. Their "La Boheme" days are some of their fondest memories. In addition to their studies, they were doing "real performing" -- including live broadcasts on Radio France and a tour of the United Kingdom with live BBC broadcasts. The franc/dollar exchange rate was 10:1, and life was wonderful, but when the Fulbright year was over, it all came to an end.
They returned briefly to New York and then came to Washington where they faced choices that would affect their future, both artistic and economic. Faced with the necessity of making a living wage, they found a sobering statistic staring them in the face: only one percent of musicians doing the kind of performance they wanted to do could make a living. Despite brilliant critical reviews and real contacts with "movers and shakers" on an international level, Lackey and Jelasic were not able to book enough concerts to live.
The musicians started playing hotels and restaurants, and right away, they had to address their distaste and disappointment when they were called "piano players." Their reaction is good advice for others to follow. As musicians in the business world, presentation and marketing are key. They presented themselves as society pianists -- classically trained, professional, international performers who spoke many languages. It worked!
Full time work in prime hotels in Washington, DC evolved from hotel entertaining to hotel entertainment agents. They worked hard, trying at first to do almost everything themselves, but then they compiled a list of musicians from friends and associates and supplied names to hotels as needed. During this time, they resigned themselves to the fact that their creative energies were spent on the business -- Black Tie Arts Management -- instead of performing. However, their resignation proved worthwhile, when they realized that what had started as a sideline had grown into a list of 800 artists on call, with gross revenues multiplying in double digits every year.
The irony of working as booking agents instead of performers is that now that their business is established, Lackey and Jelasic find themselves performing more. As they have become recognized in the Washington area music community, more oportunities have become available. The success of Black Tie enables them to accompany and perform classical concerts and opera programs, realizing their life goals by a different route.
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