Sheldon Soffer, A remembrance

Jul 14

by Don Osborne, California Artists Management

Don Osborne, Katie Manz, Eli Ashley, a "boxer", Tom Tomlinson, Ingrid Kidd Goldfarb, and Sheldon Soffer at the 1993 Annual Conference at the Town & Country Hotel, San Diego.

Phyllis Warschaw (left), Sheldon Soffer (right) Occidental College: Mad Hatters Party, 1976, Scottsdale, AZ — *Phyllis Warschaw (left), Sheldon Soffer (right)*
*Occidental College: Mad Hatters Party, 1976, Scottsdale, AZ*

No one will be surprised to learn that my 40+ year friendship with Sheldon Soffer began at WAA: my first WAA, in Monterey, I believe in 1979. I was there with another WAA legend, my boss at the time: Mariedi Anders. To say the least, they weren't friends. But Sheldon was one of couple managers who went out of their way to meet me, make me feel welcome, even offer me a job. I wasn't tempted.

He was without question memorable. In the days when proper conference attire for for New York agents was suits and ties, there was Sheldon in shorts, a colorful shirt, topsiders, a huge grin, boundless energy, and a larger than life personality.

Classical Music reigned at WAA then. And I was a big fan of Elly Ameling and a half dozen other artists Sheldon represented. Over the years our friendship grew, through other conferences, and work together with NAPAMA, but mostly at WAA.

It was always at WAA that Sheldon shone, where successive years of memorable parties he sponsored were invariably the highlight of every conference, making the most of each location and expanding friendships. Sheldon loved being a host; he had great pride in those parties, always wanting the next year to be even better than the last: no small feat for the WAA staff. They always managed to deliver.

Among his many accomplishments, being recognized for his service to WAA was one of the highlights of Sheldon's long and very rich career. It was the place where many of us got to know him, and grew to love him. Rest in peace, dear Sheldon.

Manager and mentor to generations of performers and arts professionals, Sheldon Soffer passed away peacefully on June 23, 2021, at 93 in Fort Myers, Florida. By his side was his aide of 3 years, Ron Wendell, and his cherished puppy.

Sheldon Sofffer was born August 20, 1927, to immigrants Bertha Weiss Soffer and Samuel Soffer. Raised in the Bronx, he was the youngest of six siblings, in a family that valued education, Jewish traditions, and the arts. A graduate of the High School of Music and Art and Queens College, he was awarded a Fellowship to teach music appreciation at UC Berkley, where he studied composition with Roger Sessions, graduating in 1950 with a Master’s Degree in Conducting. He subsequently studied conducting with Fritz Steidry at the Metropolitan Opera.

After a short, and ultimately unsatisfying, career conducting performances on the road, a Broadway debut conducting The Teahouse of the August Moon, and a stint as Music Director for Lemonade Opera and Assistant Conductor of the Provincetown Symphony, he transitioned off-stage to artist management, founding Sheldon Soffer Management in 1960, which he ran until his retirement in 1999. The first artist on his roster was Lotte Goslar’s Pantomime Circus.

Over his career, Soffer led the careers of artists including singers Elly Ameling, whom he brought to the United States in 1968, Gerard Souzay, Robert Holl, Sarah Walker, Carolyn Watkinson, Lucy Shelton; conductors including Robert Spano, Michael Morgan, Michael Gielen, Joanne Falletta, Margaret Hillis, and David Alan Miller; musicians including Empire Brass Quintet, and dance companies and choreographers including Pilobolus, Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo, David Parsons Dance Companies, MOMIX, Bat-Dor Dance Company, Judith Jamison Project, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Co, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, the Boston Ballet, Ballet West, and Molissa Fenley.

When Ravi Shankar asked him to manage him in 1984, Soffer told him he didn’t know anything about Indian music but Shankar said “I’ll teach you,” convincingly, and the two worked together for many years.

In a June, 2021 PBS American Masters feature on Les Ballets Trocaderos de Monte Carlo, an all-male comedic ballet company, Founder Peter Anastos describes the company being approached by agents in the early 1970s who wanted to book the “Trocks,” as they were affectionately known, but who were hesitant to put the company in brochures for fear that the argents reputations may be damaged by the “drag ballet”. After meeting with the company, Soffer not only put them in his brochure, he put them on the cover. “He did what no other manager would do,” said Anastos, “He honored us for who we were.”

At the request of a representative from the Japanese Consulate, Soffer met with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, who had revolutionized music education in Japan with his “Suzuki Method” of teaching. Working with Eastman School of Music and the community in Rochester NY, Soffer brought the Suzuki Method to the United States, first to the Rochester area in the mid-1960s, and then nationwide. For the next 30 years, Soffer would present a tour of the US for the top Suzuki method students from the Shinichi Suzuki School in Matsumoto, Japan each Fall.

A passionate advocate for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1980s, Soffer worked with then Carnegie Hall Executive and Artistic Director Judith Arron to create the 1993 AIDS benefit concert “Music for Life,” featuring classical music luminaries including Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Pinchas Zuckerman, and Kurt Masur.