Month: July 2014

Barrett Wissman Seeks to Bring Western Artists to the East

canton-international-festivalWhen Barrett Wissman became owner of IMG Artists in 2003, the takeover resulted in a “shake up of the arts world and especially classical music management.” Since then, IMG artists have been playing “in top venues round the world from Carnegie Hall to the Esplanade, whose programmers know that we can achieve very interesting things.”

So while over the last 11 years Barrett Wissman has engineered substantial success for IMG artists in the western world, he admits that it will “take several years to establish the IMG presence in Asia.” However, he believes that there has been some advancement in this area already, like the establishment in Kuala Lumpur of the new Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Chinese government hiring IMG to put on the Canton International Festival – a music festival in Guangzhou. This is expected to bring more than a thousand talented students in just for the inaugural event, due later this summer. And then there is the showing of Mamma Mia! by Singapore Press Holdings. IMG Artists is now starting to advise corporates directly, without the intervention of government agencies. For example, consultation with UBS in organizing the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra that recently arrived in Singapore.

In addition, Wissman will be seeking out new talent – both in the west and the east. Within this regard, he already picked out Lang Lang, a piano prodigy who is to perform at this year’s Singapore Arts Festival. With Lang Lang and others like him, Wissman intends to try to guide these artists to ensure that “they don’t play too much or too little, and in the right venues.”

 

China UK: Trade Investment Deals

KeqiangTrade and investment deals were signed at the end of last month between large companies from China and the UK, totaling approximately £14 billion ($23.8 billion). At the same time, Premier Li Keqiang was in the midst of a three-day visit to the UK, seeking to enhance corporate links between the two nations, while participating in the annual UK-China Summit. Keqiang said:

“I believe there is extensive common interests between our two countries and our cooperation serves the interests of both and has global ramifications. And China is ready to work with the UK to foster a partnership for growth and inclusive development to ensure that this relationship will grow faster and in a healthier way.”

In recent years, there has been a substantial escalation in UK-China business – one example being jump to £12.4 billion last year from £7.6 billion in 2010 of UK goods being exported to China. The UK has been upping these exports as part of its program to counteract the Euro-Zone crisis’ impact. In addition, it is increasing exports to other fast-growing developing economies. China is just one of these.

UK Prime Minister Li Keqiang echoed this sentiment when he pointed out:

“The figures tell the story—bilateral trade at record levels, our exports to China up 15% in 2013, they have more than doubled in the last five years and at £1 billion a month, they are growing faster than France or Germany.”

Still, despite these economically-attractive figures, there is still work to be done on the political field. Just two years ago, Cameron irked Chinese officials when he met up with the Dalai Lama. It seems that things haven’t changed all that much in this regard over the last few years. Indeed, just before Keqiang arrived in the UK, he threatened to cancel his trip should he not be granted an audience with the Queen. In an article in The Times it was reported that the Queen had become “a pawn in a secret diplomatic showdown between London and Beijing.”

So while economically things are definitely moving in the right direction, the same cannot necessarily be said for the political situation.