Interview with violist, Victoria Voronyansky

This week, I interviewed Victoria Voronyansky, an established violist and pedagogue.

When did you start playing?

Victoria: I started playing the violin when I was five and a half, almost six. In my school in Kiev, Ukraine, they started you first in theory and ear training to see if you have good pitch. If you were good they told you to play the violin if you didn't have such good pitch they told you to play the piano. When I came t0 the US at the age of 13, I started playing the viola as well. I got into the Manhattan School of Music pre-college and I was promised a scholarship if I were to play the viola in addition to playing the violin. That's how I started playing the viola.

Did you love it? 

Victoria: Initially I was really confused. I didn't speak English very well and I wasn't sure what I was suppose to play. I thought I was going to play the cello. On the first day of school I showed up at the chamber music class and was upset to find out that there is already a cellist there. Then my coach gave me the viola, a $40 a year rental.

What are your career goals? 

Victoria: At this moment I mostly teach and I have my own private studio, which took years to build. I have close to 40 students. I really love teaching and I enjoy it very much. I played chamber music for many years and I was a member of a string quartet that was very successful for two years. I also had a duo with a pianist for several years and enjoyed it very much. 

As my studio began to grow I had to make a conscious decision to dedicate more of my energy to teaching. Currently I am working on my own CD and once I finish the CD I will resume my performance career and do my best to balance it with teaching. I have several students who would like to be my teaching assistants, so once I resume a full scale performing schedule I know that I can count on them to make sure that the studio continues to thrive and my students get the attention that they need.

How do you promote yourself?

Victoria: As a teacher I don't promote myself. All my students came to me through recommendations of other students, parents or teachers. I used to work as an assistant for professor Heidi Castleman in the Juilliard school and she recommended me to several people. 

As a performing artist I have a website on which I have a mailing list. People who hear my performances can go to my website and sign up to be on my mailing list. 

So what happens if people are on your list?

Victoria:  If I have a new recording or a performance coming up or anything that would be of interest to fans, I write to the people on my list and let them know. When you perform you need to establish a fan base, people who will almost always come o your performances, and you have to continuously keep in touch with them and have something interesting and of high quality to offer them. In my experience I felt that bombarding people with too much information annoys people and makes them feel that your events are not special. Try to balance their desire for seeing you on stage with how often you appear.

When did you start promoting yourself online?

Victoria: I started promoting myself online around the year 2000. First it was like having a business card online. It was just a desire to have a website to advertise what I do and keep track of it. Shortly after that I started teaching a class in Juilliard called "The Recording Project," which was aimed at students presenting themselves in the best possible light when recording. 

What do you mean?

Victoria: Students had to be screened for competitions and auditions by submitting a tape, so the goal was to help them learn what they needed to do differently when recording versus when performing on stage. I started putting the course material online for students to use as reference and I was published by the Journal of the American Viola Society, so I started putting these articles on my website as well. 

As I  started to perform more I needed to promote myself in order to bring in an audience.

What did you use offline?

Victoria: Before a concert or a workshop I would send out press releases to local newspapers and I would get in touch with local businesses, and offer them discounted tickets if they allowed me to hang fliers for the event in their business.

Do you use social networks to promote yourself?

Victoria: No, but somebody started a fan group for me on Facebook. It wasn't my initiative but I'm grateful that he did that.

Why?

Victoria: He has been publicising my events.

Does it help?

Victoria: Yes, I get audience from many different sources. 

D o you notice other musicians' online promotion?

Victoria: Yes, I notice that I really enjoy when musicians have their own blog. I would like to do it in the near future. It's an excellent way for the audience to connect with the artists because it gives them a direct connection and humanises the artists, takes them off the stage and presents them as humans.

Do you have any advice to give to musicians who promote themselves online?

Victoria: First, make sure you have a website and a highly qualified person to design and maintain the website. 

Anything else to say?

Victoria: I wish musicians would feel at ease with the process of developing a flexible approach to a music career. Right from the start, they should familiarize themselves with chamber music, orchestra, teaching and performing solo. I wish musicians tried to develop love and passion for the many facets of the profession. 

Why?

Victoria: Because their career can be significantly more fulfilling if they develop this approach and broaden their interest in music and in other people.  I wish they would become more aware of the joy of sharing their music with others rather than fixating on a perfectionist attitude. Basically, they should take the focus off of themselves and shift it to music and those with whom they share their music.