Jacques Marquis on The Cliburn's New Management Agency

The Cliburn has launched a comprehensive management agency for emerging and established instrumentalists of high artistic caliber in the piano field and beyond

The Cliburn has announced the launch of its new boutique management agency, the Cliburn Agency, with an initial roster of the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo; pianists Greg Anderson, Peter Dugan, Clayton Stephenson, and Fei-Fei; and harpist Bridget Kibbey. 

These artists will partner with the Cliburn to further enhance their careers and impact through innovative programming, projects, concerts, and community engagement efforts. 

The Cliburn advances classical piano music worldwide most notably through its Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which will next take place in 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas.  As the Cliburn has provided its competition’s winners with three years of career management and concert bookings, the Cliburn Agency will likewise continue this support to artists through general management. 

We sat down with Cliburn’s President and CEO, Jacques Marquis to learn more about the exciting initiative!

Congratulations on the big announcement, Jacques. The Cliburn Competition is launching a concert artist management division and will now represent a roster of outstanding musicians for concert bookings and ongoing career development! Why did your team see a need for this?

The Cliburn’s mission is to advance classical music and support extraordinary artists. The most visible expression of this is the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, but it has materialized in other areas: personalized career management for the Competition medalists, international publicity, and multiple leading concerts and education programs.

We saw the opportunity to use the Cliburn’s experience and expertise to further realize that mission with the Cliburn Agency—by partnering with artists whose high artistic caliber is matched by a vision for moving the field of classical music forward. We will put our industry leadership to work for our artists and are honored to partner with such musicians—whose missions align with ours—to magnify their impact.

How will this differ from other competitions that offer interim management to their laureates whilst they aim to attract the attention of traditional commercial management?

Importantly, as has been true for decades, the three medalists of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition will receive three years of career management and concert bookings, in a personalized prize package designed to best support healthy career launches for the emerging artists; one of those goals is to match them with the right long-term management. This is an award from the Cliburn, distinct from the Cliburn Agency roster; it doesn’t change.

Will your roster comprise just Cliburn Competition prize winners? Or you will also be open to other talented pianists and instrumentalists?

The initial Cliburn Agency roster comprises Anderson & Roe Piano Duo; Greg Anderson, piano;Peter Dugan, piano; Fei-Fei, piano; Bridget Kibbey, harp; and Clayton Stephenson, piano. From intriguing programming and projects to alternative concerts and community engagement, these touring musicians are dedicated to connection and creativity—and they are partnering with the Cliburn to enhance and magnify their careers, efforts, and impact.

All of the artists on the initial roster have been members of the Cliburn Family in some way for a while—though none are past medalists. They’ve all been featured on the Cliburn Concerts series; Fei-Fei and Clayton were in the Cliburn finals I 2013 and 2022, respectively; Greg, Liz, Peter, and Bridget have all been on-air talent on Cliburn webcasts.

Will it just be soloists? Or will groups and chamber music ensembles also be represented? 

The Agency launches with a piano duo and instrumental soloists, some of whom have chamber and commissioning projects. We plan to focus on that for now; importantly, we’re open to and interested in instruments beyond the piano and are very pleased to launch with harpist Bridget Kibbey.

How many artists are aiming to have on your roster initially and long term?

We intend to keep the roster tight, so every artist has sufficient personalized attention to their vision and projects, and to successfully execute plans. We expect there to be room in future to grow our roster strategically.

How important is good management representation to young artists to ensure their career is appropriately launched?

This is crucial: in an industry that can be challenging and is constantly changing, it is important that artists (at any stage in their careers) have an advocate who can be both a creative and strategic partner while also being pragmatic, with an eye towards a healthy, sustainable career.

How will your team's operations and philsophy differ from that of traditional commercial management? 

The artists will have the attention and detail of a small, dedicated team, with the resources of a much bigger entity with the expertise, connections, and global exposure it brings. We have direct experience in presenting, producing, project development, public relations and branding, media management, and complex contract negotiations. All of this will allow us to give characteristically Cliburn service to our artists.

What advice would you give to artists hoping to get signed to management? 

Besides the obvious of honing their craft to the highest levels, we encourage artists to develop a clear mission and sense of what they want to accomplish through their music, have awareness of their strengths in all areas (repertoire, audience engagement, etc), consider how they can be a positive impact, and be open and gracious to different experiences, audiences, peers and colleagues, and strangers alike.