In Sunday’s (9/15) Washington Post, Thomas Heath writes, “Music moves people. And then there are the people who move the music.… Classical Movements founder Neeta Helms delivers musicians and singers all over the world with the precision of a Steinway piano tuner. Helms, 53, and her multilingual team of music lovers book jet flights and hotel rooms for the world’s finest orchestras and divas, from Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra to the London Philharmonic.… To overcome a plane delay and get the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to a music festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, Helms persuaded the pilots and crew of another jet to give the plane to the orchestra instead of the holiday travelers who had chartered it…. [The organization] can best be summed up as travel agent to professional symphonies. This involves managing travel—including transporting musical instruments—for musicians, staff members, family, soloists and conductors from the world’s orchestras. Most of the preparations are done years in advance, and Classical Movements handles about 10 of these tours a year. A professional orchestra with 120 musicians and staff members might spend $2 million for airlines, hotels, meals and local transportation. “
Posted September 16, 2013
