Harold Holt

Harold Holt (3 November 1885, Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa — 3 September 1953, London, UK) was a British impresario, concert agent, and classical artists manager, founder of Harold Holt Ltd. agency (now Askonas Holt), and the inaugural president of the European Association of Artist Managers (AEAA) in 1947. Born in South Africa, in the Jewish diamond merchant's family, Harold studied law but never practiced as a barrister. In 1924, thirty-nine-year-old Holt became a business partner with Lionel Powell (1877—1931), a successor of renowned impresario Alfred Curtius (1853—1918); his firm originated in 1876, established to promote Richard Wagner's music in England. After Curtis died, his former partner Powell took over the company and invited Harold Holt. In 1931, following Powell's sudden death at 54, Holt took over the firm, which was severely in debt, and renamed the agency "Harold Holt Ltd." Among notable musicians, opera singers, and conductors represented by Harold Holt's agency were Marian Anderson, Feodor Chaliapin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ania Dorfmann, Amelita Galli-Curci, Beniamino Gigli, Joan Hammond, Josef Hassid, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Fritz Kreisler, Dora Labbette, John McCormack (2), Nellie Melba, young Yehudi Menuhin in concerts with Sir Edward Elgar, Grace Moore, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Gregor Piatigorsky, Rosa Ponselle, Paul Robeson, Richard Tauber, and Luisa Tetrazzini. He also managed Ida Haendel and adjusted her birth year from 1928 to 1923 to work around Covent Garden's prohibition for anyone under 14 to perform; subsequently, the erroneous date populated numerous encyclopedias and publications. According to some musicologists, Holt played a crucial role in The London Philharmonic Orchestra's creation in 1932, typically attributed to conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Malcolm Sargent. Harold Holt also established the critically acclaimed "Celebrity Concerts" series at the Royal Albert Hall.