Are Classical Musicians Secretly Millionaires? 

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Broooo its criminal that vengerov is worth that little

"The reason, friends, is you need to be perfect." This made me think about all the non-classical musicians I've come across who don't respect classical musicans or think classical music isn't all that difficult because classical musicans read sheet music. What they don't realize is in the classical music world playing the music perfectly isn't the goal and really not an achievement, it's the standard.

As someone who started takimg piano lessons when I was 3 years old, it's strange to know that I'm one of the few cases where it wasn't my parents pushing me to become a pianist for their own gain, but rather my piano teacher recognizing that I have talent and wanted nothing more than to help me further develop it.

That's why I think it is mental that I managed to attend hilary hahn's concert in Dortmund in November for 11.5€ 😂

There is also Anne-Sophie Mutter with estimated 16 Million EURO. Some of that is probably the *two* Stradivarius she owns...

What’s crazy is that these are the best classical music has to offer, and while they are richer than us, they aren’t nearly as wealthy as the best in other fields. If you were at the top in any other field, you’d probably have half a billion or more

Being a millionaire is very good. In this day and age and Times Anna and Elizabeth, money is important to buy food and water and pay the bills in accordance with the Law. ❤

You forgot Vanessa Mae. she's probably around $50 million territory. She sold so many albums and earned so much from touring during the peak of her career that she never has to work in her life again and just enjoys a luxurious lifestyle in Switzerland.

I thought Lang Lang would be in the top tier with all the brand deals he has and I was genuinely chocked to hear Kissin was that loaded

This really puts it in perspective of what goes on behind the scenes for classical musicians. It's so true when you mentioned about having to uphold their prestigious status. Oh, the pressure...

I think the ones that amazed me the most on this list are Lang Lang and Kissin, mainly because I see them as strictly classical musicians. Yo Yo Ma’s wealth makes perfect sense because he’s made so many cross-over records, he’s cultivated a wider audience than many of the others. Andre Rieu is not only a classical musician, he is also an entertainment impresario. So yeah, that’s not surprising. I like his concerts, everything is grand.

We all know Vengerov is priceless. (As well as all of them Maxim is just the favorite of mine)

That was an excellent and really informative video. Yes, my guess was Andre Rieu at the top of the classical music soloist income chain. Who knew playing Strauss waltzes would get you a quarter of a billion? I have played the violin for 56 years, have performed with symphonies and chamber orchestras, and played a lot of blues and jazz in Vegas, and have a jazz-60's-70's cd to be released this year. With that background I give you great credit for your playing, for which you are a tremendous violinist with excellent technique, and I have heard you play some of the most difficult passages that there can be. You are a really sharp and creative person, and your videos are of truly interesting topics. With the line of thought that Vengerov is deserving of a far greater net worth, you are deserving of a million or two million more subscribers. Please keep up your great work, and your great playing.

My psychologist asked me this week about the price of my instrument and was shocked when she heard its cost and how expensive it was to get the instrument overhauled every 3 - 4 years. Her racing brain came up with the many social drawbacks of exclusion the cost of an instrument, instruction and practice-room rental and competitor-costs. I think that non-musicians are fundamentally unaware of the costs (time and money) while also thinking that it's easy to play music and feeling that the musician is not worth the salary s/he earns in a concert. I hope that she doesn't raise her price!

"feed it well and make sure it gets a lot of sunlight"

the thing is some of the musicians on this list have a instrument that is like double there own net worth

I remember my flute teacher telling me she would not study music if she had the choice again, so much work for so little revenue. You video was very interesting - small mistake at the beginning, 4 out of 400 is 1%, or maybe 16 get accepted?

I'm a flutist. Can't ever say I've ever even seen a flute job open in the orchestras. 🤣🤣🤣Forget about it.

Fun fact: Adjusted for inflation, assuming net worth is in US, Heifetz would have a net worth of around 21 million today. Also, for reference to Joshua Bell's net worth, its probably so high because he owns his strad rather than having it on loan. I'm not sure if he has an outstanding loan on it, but it is in his name rather than Nippon or some other major musical organization. Not to say he is bad, but I just cant imagine him having anywhere close to 15m to his name unless its due to his violin.

theyre all samurai on the strings. im suprised Roman Kim or Augustin Hadelich wasnt on the list. Im an adult learner paying for lessons. everything is expensive. I had a conversation with the wife asking me how much the violin i want costs. she lost her shit when i said. 6k. she has no idea. Keep up the good work

no violas in the tier list lol

You need to adjust Heifetz‘a net worth for inflation. The Internet tells me that his net worth was $8 million, and that he died in 1987. Eight million 1987 dollars are worth twenty-one million plus today.

Nice Video and I agree: the emotional costs are very, very high

great content. Keep it going :)

Here is a point , Violinist who plays contemporary music usually get less marketing and naturally less money. for instance Patricia kopatchinskaja or Leila josefowicz. People still like to listen Beethoven or Tchaikovsky not contemporary composer.

I had no idea that Andre Rieu was the richest classical musician in the world.

4:48 for anybody who is wondering, that is around 12% of your life spent practicing

There is no way Kissin made $200MM unless he bought bitcoin 10 years ago. I don't know where you got that number, but there's just no way. André Rieu though, that's expected.

5:06 nah i thought you were gonna say you were gonna make your own

I only recently found your channel. Love it! You are very funny.👍

Honestly 50k to hire Hilary to play privately seems inexpensive.

I mean I dont think everyone was suprised by andrea Rieu

What about Martha Argerich? Rubinstein? Barenboim? Trifonov? Schiff? Bernstein? RACHMANINOV?

I think Heifetz was included in this comparison only because he was considered the highest paid violinist of his time. However, Heifetz, who died in 1987, stopped concert playing in 1972 due to the shoulder problems. So, comparing the net worth of the 87-year-old Heifetz with the earnings of the actively performing musicians in the 21st century is not fair. Only his house in Malibu would be now worth probably more than $20million.

dude your likebutton mention was cazy smooth how could i not even do i basecly never use it xD

I was expecting some older musicians/conductors with longer careers and old money on the top, but there's only Perlman seems to fit my idea. Also, Heifetz might be wealthier than many if you account for inflation and increase of wealth through time. For this reason you shouldn't have compared someone long dead with the living.

That was great fun! I was trying to guess, and was totally wrong most of the time.🤭 For some reason I thought Wang Yuja was going to be number 1.😁

You didn't mention Ray Chen.

Rieu knew going for mainstream appeal means good business🤑

The Kissin net worth is from a satire article...

Really interesting video. I never thought of all the work and sacrifice that goes into practice. These guys deserve the money they make. Best regards.

I already had the feeling that andre riu was going to be the top, all my non-musician family know him

I for one am majoring in performance due to the massive stacks of cash you get

"These aren't easy songs you learn on Simply Piano" cracked me up and I'm not sure why.

8:38 - did you call it "songs" instead of pieces

My girlfriend plays piano I play violin it’s amazing we do duets all the time

A lot of the unexpected variation in income is due to the different markets they serve. Perlman had had Hollywood income and more time to reinvest

btw yuja wang's estimated net worth is already north of $20m :)

Remember me when you get one of the greatest:)

Thank You for music Jesus

great video. Thanks. Did you also consider the powerhouse opera singers like Renee Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli? Thanks for the answer.🌷👏

The videos are getting better

I'm wondering why Jascha Heifetz is on this list since he passed away in the 1980's if memory serves me correctly?

But you need to understand that Hilary Hahn does not receive 50000$ per concert. What you are looking at is a request form of an artist booking agency (AAE?). That is a company which makes profit by negotiating contracts with famous artists. Now, sometimes an artist would have a contract with such an agency, for Hahn this should be IMG I believe. Then usually the agency would take a provision of about 15%-20%. In this case I think AAE does *not* represent Hilary Hahn, so essentially you are contracting them to get in touch with the right people and negotiate a deal. This of course costs fees that go to AAE, they probably make a deal with IMG, who take provision, and Hilary Hahn gets what remains. But then you also need to keep in mind that an artist like Hahn does have quite a full schedule already. So for her to try to squeeze in your event (or even rearrange other stuff) you’ll need to make a really good offer, especially if this requires practice time before. A lot of concerts an artist like Hilary gives are negotiated quite a long time in advance (this can be 1-2 years in advance!), and many concerts are repetoir concerts she does for labels such as DGG she has contracts with. Next week Hilary will play Brahms in Stockholm. The hall has room for about 1300 people, a ticket costs 18$-59$. Even if the concert is sold out it will only make about maybe 40000$. But this also has to pay for a whole Symphony orchestra, which may easily come at 10000$ per evening. Also this has to pay for the rent of the hall, which probably costs somewhere between 5000$ and 10000$ per evening. So there is no way Hilary Hahn can get 30000$-50000$ there, even if her name alone was enough to have the hall sold out.

Lindsay Stirling is around $16 mil. Hauser is $8 mil.

Also, she does up to 8 concerts/week at min $50,000 each - i.e. $400,000 in one week and yet has a net worth of $5M... what, did she start this year?

Where's the petition, I'd like to sign it

I love Hilary Hahn!!!!❤❤❤

How about conductors?

Couldn't it be that the reason Heifetz, Hahn & Vengerov are so much lower is due to inflation and the value of the $ back in their day-? I've been playing since 1971 and subscribed [also back in the day] to the Strad and String Magazines and remember their fees then ~ soooo, I would say, if you adjusted for cost of living standards and inflation/value of $, your disappointment , or your list, would probably be "upside down". Plus, I remember Maxim Vengerov at his peak, ...then he had a mysterious shoulder accident and was out {I mean: COMPLETELY 0UT) for several years. I mean I knew, personally, Yehudi Menuhin and Ivory Gitlis (...and, comic pianist, Victor Borge`); during their time, the 'number' of {lit.} dollars they commanded for their concerts are, value-wise, pretty much the same as today.

What do you think about Edvard Grieg ?

How is Joshua over Hilary 😭

Karolina Protsernko a sus 15 años es la violinista más versátil y famosa del mundo, también millonaria

Still wondering how Kissin got that high

Where and what is the supporting data evidence ? Is this really the top 10 ? Are conductors not classical musicians ? Are opera singers not classical musicians ? Yuja Wang is not a top 10 ? and all the other names listed in these following comments. If you can make a list of the top 10 , and you are correct , let's have a more extended list of the top classical musicians. Thanks for starting this conversation.

10hours a day fun fuelled madness no showers as you reach 42 you slow down it's not realistic from where you are and lifestyle and health

Only those flying private Jets fir forty years with dubious ties or on the boards of the WEF.

"Classical music child trafficking." Exactly.

this dude’s videos makes me want to quit the violin 😭

I suspect the super riches are earning their capital by other investment like stock, not purely by preforming

I would have not expected Kissin that high, but he fully deserves it. But Vengerov at 1 million with Rieu at 250 millions is criminal...

This list is highly dubious.

50 million, and he doesn't even need to play in tune!

The Like button didn't cost me much!

To a piece… of wood 😂😂

Pavarotti would be up at the top if you include opera singers

i thought vengerov would have more money he’s been around for so long

maybe some soloists...but the run of the mill orchestral musician is not that wealthy.

no way kissin is at 215 mil FR… where’s yuja?

How about Janine Jansen?

you said one button but told us to press two

"they make more money in one night than you in a year"

Only 16 people get accepted to Curtis every year?..

I still hoped for something. I'm 34 and I've only been playing the violin for 1.5 years. Maybe I shouldn't waste my time. 🙃

I guess both classical and jazz musicians have limit of less than 100 million~ Rock and pop can go over 100 million~~

There is no way Vengerov is worth so little. That amount of money isn’t enough to even buy a home in many cities. Maybe the source is incorrect?

I take these "financial worth" lists with a grain of salt. I mean, it's easy to see what each player charges for a performance. Hell, they list it on their web pages. But to know what a musician's financial worth is a tricky thing. What does that mean? It sounds arbitrary. Maybe Andre Rieu is worth $250 million because of wise investments and he's been playing for a very long time. But what does wise investments have to do with the skill as a musician? And these financial worth list use highly inaccurate methods for estimating a person't wealth. I would just stick to performance fees as a better measuring rule for each musician.

0:27 that's 1% ??

I see his shows on tv, he puts on a hell of a good time, the crowds are in tears at times, but how good is he..?? Never seems to be playing anything that technical or virtuosic..?

Vengerov is the best, like wtf

and Pavarotti?

4 out of 400 is not 4 percent. Definitely too much practice.

That information is just wrong.

The top of the top? They should be. it's still irrelevant in comparison to contemporary artists' wealth though.

itzhak perlman jascha's student maxim vengarov is a 10 million dollar man. The classman you made is ridiculous, man.

my guy you are scaring me, i am learning the violin you're not helping me.

prob many money

What, no Bieber?

Where is Martha Argerich? I wouldn't buy a ticket for Andre Rieu's easy listening snooze fest.