An Amsterdam-based agency with a long tradition and devotion to classical music
About Interartists
Interartists Amsterdam is a well-established agency with a long history of successful collaborations. We work with a great variety of artists: from upcoming talent to some of the most renowned artists in the world. Forerunners of our agency already started in 1928, making us one of the oldest agencies in the world that is still operative.
Our strength lies in the personal connection we have with our artists as well as in our devotion to their career development. We are deeply committed to the promotion of our artists within our global network and working together with them to achieve their goals and dreams.
As a classical music agency , Interartists Amsterdam enjoys an outstanding reputation. To artists we offer great opportunities at any stage of their career, built on our ever-expanding professional network. To orchestras, venues and festivals we offer a broad variety of fine artists. We also offer our knowledge and experience for reaching out to a wider and more diverse audience.
Our office is located in the heart of Amsterdam, but we are operative worldwide thanks to modern technologies and frequent travels to attend performances.
What we believe in
Personal approach
At Interartists Amsterdam we believe in a tailor-made approach to both artists and promoters. The relationship with all our partners is based on trust, mutual respect and personal integrity. With a team of four we always have direct contact with artists and promoters. We personally take care of each individual artist with clear and open communication. We search for their individual needs and ambitions on stage and in the recording studio, so they can excel in their specific repertoire. Together we build their unique career.
Commitment
We do everything we can to meet the expectations from our partners and to create the most ideal circumstances for the artists to blossom. We are deeply committed to building long term relations. Artists stay with us for decades, some even for their whole career. We know promoters personally as well. If they move to another organisation we continue our collaboration, resulting in cooperations lasting decades alike.
Advice
Whether artists are just taking their first steps on their career path or they are a well-established name already, all our artists know they can rely on our inside knowledge. We advise on every element that makes an artist's career. We know the repertoire, the promoters, the record labels, and all other parties connected to the artists or we research until we find a personalised answer.
Media Management
Interartists Amsterdam is well experienced in managing the recording process, from the first spark of an idea to the final release event. We have long term collaborations with multiple record labels. We are always able to connect the artist to the right record label to make the artist’s dream come true. Also for other media management and event management Interartists Amsterdam can offer suitable partners.
We are deeply committed to promote classical musicians around the world and, above all, to promote classical music on the highest level of artistry.
History
In 1928 John Beek started his agency “Concertdirectie J. Beek”. In 1937 John married Johannna who quickly managed the daily routine at the agency, becoming very well known for her personal commitment to both artists and promoters in the Netherlands and abroad.
On September 1, 1971 “Concertdirectie J. Beek” merged with the agency of Johan Koning who himself started in 1924 when he took up the management of Dame Myra Hess. The new agency was named Interartists.
On 29 October 1978 Interartists celebrated its 50th anniversary with a concert in which established names and upcoming artists shared the stage: Pierre Fournier, Nikita Magaloff and the Vidom Trio represented the first category, Kyoshi Shomura and Abdel-Rahman El-Bacha were the youngsters on stage. On this occasion, Johanna Beek was knighted.
In 1980 Interartists started their cooperation with the other major agency in the Netherlands, Dr. Geza de Koos, which was run by that time by Sylvio Samama. Dr. Geza de Koos was a Hungarian lawyer who started his agency in 1919, urged by Willem Mengelberg.
In September 1980 Hans Ulrich Schmid from Hannover acquired Interartists and renamed it Interartists Holland BV. Johanna Beek remained an adviser to the agency which would continue business as before. The daily routine was put in the hands of Hanna Zubrzycka. She was Polish by birth but by that time nationalised to Dutch, speaking German, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian fluently.
In 1988 Hanna Zubrzycka became ill. In November 1989 Jeannine Salomons joined Interartists Holland BV. Hanna Zubrzycka passed away on 12 March 1990 and Jeannine Salomons became director. A year later she bought the agency from Hans Ulrich Schmid.
In 1981 Marijke Klinkhamer started her own agency. She worked with artists like the Alban Berg Quartet, the Borodin Quartet, the Takacs Quartet, the Artemis Quartet, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Evgeny Kissin, Boris Berezovsky, Nikolai Lugansky, Andrei Gavrilov, Piotr Anderszewski, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Torleif Thedéen, Evgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Eri Klas, Leif Segerstam, Michel Tabachnik, Philippe Entremont, Ed Spanjaard and Vassily Sinaisky. Quite a few of them are still with Interartists Amsterdam.
Marijke’s first concert as an impresario was also the one which brought Sviatoslav Richter back to the Concertgebouw on 17 June 1986, after twenty-two years. He brought his own instrument, a Yamaha and he remained with Marijke until his death in 1997.
Another famous artist for whom Marijke worked was Valery Gergiev. In 1989 rumours were that he would succeed James Conlon as chief conductor at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra but then he was too busy. Eventually in 1995 Gergiev became chief conductor in Rotterdam.
Also Mariss Jansons should be mentioned. Already in 1989 Marijke Klinkhamer worked with Mariss when he visited the Concertgebouw with his Leningrad orchestra. When his position of chief conductor at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ended in 2015 he returned to Interartists Amsterdam after a pause of 11 years, his years at the RCO.
In 1997 Leontien van der Vliet started to work with Marijke Klinkhamer. When Leontien became a partner in 2002, the agency was renamed Artists Management Klinkhamer-Van der Vliet. Stephan Brekelmans was hired by Marijke and Leontien in 2003. Stephan used to work for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and as a former singer he had an excellent nose for young vocal talents. In 2005 Marijke Klinkhamer slowly retired and plans were made for Stephan's partnership, starting January 2006. In September 2006 the new partners Leontien and Stephan took over the business from Jeannine Salomons. The name of the agency was changed into Interartists Amsterdam. With this acquisition new artists joined the roster; artists like Emanuel Ax, Menahem Pressler, Daniel Hope, Radovan Vlatkovic, and Jacques Zoon are still part of the Interartists Amsterdam family.
Hylke van Lingen joined Interartists Amsterdam in 2010. When Stephan left the agency in January 2019 Hylke replaced him as co-owner of Interartists Amsterdam, together with Leontien. In 2020 Rozemarijn Tiben joined the agency, followed by Ydeleine Berntsen in 2021, Sofia Amisich in 2023 and Fernando de Testa in 2024.