By John Fleming 
Musical America

In early 2024, Jane Brown’s 30 years with HarrisonParrott was duly recognized when she was named co-head of artist management. Her appointment followed on the heels of Co-Founder Jasper Parrott’s decision to sell the 55-year-old agency to its employees the previous October. 

“We were blown away when Jasper decided that the people who would be best placed to continue his legacy were the staff members themselves,” she says. ​“We felt energized that the future really was in our hands.” HP has about 100 employees, with offices in London, Munich, and Paris. 

Alongside her new administrative duties, Brown continues to represent a group of instrumentalists and conductors on the HP roster of about 250 artists. ​“I enjoy conductor management because everything flows from conductors,” she says. ​“When you have a strong conductor list, you tend to have good connections with those orchestras for other artists, whether they be guest conductors or instrumentalists.” 

Her list includes Sakari Oramo, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, whom she has managed for more than 20 years; Dalia Stasevska, chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, who frequently guests with major American orchestras and makes her Berlin Philharmonic debut in February; and Hannu Lintu, chief conductor of Finnish National Opera. Brown has long handled conducting engagements for composer John Adams, and that connection led to her management of violinist Leila Josefowicz, who made a pivotal career change under HP’s tutelage. 

“Leila and I met when she was playing John’s Violin Concerto with him on tour,” Brown says. ​“She was under different management and told me she was interested in playing more contemporary repertoire. When she joined HP, we devised a strategy to realign her repertoire. She gave up Beethoven and Tchaikovsky and other standard repertoire to concentrate on living composers.” 

Josefowicz is now the go-to soloist for violin concertos by Adams, Matthias Pintscher, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Mackey, Thomas Adès, Luca Francesconi, and more. ​“She is invested in those pieces to the point that in the majority of cases she memorizes them, rather than using a score as most violinists do in contemporary works,” Brown says. ​“That makes a big difference in audience perception.”