MA Top 30 Professional: Alicia Horwitz

Director of Booking & Artist Management
MKI Artists

Alicia Horwitz didn’t exactly stumble into a career working with clients like composer Jessie Montgomery and the Boston Pops. But when a hand injury threatened her rising profile as a professional flutist, she found something just as exciting at the Fordham University School of Law.

“I took a few courses in entertainment law,” says Horwitz, who spent 10 years at Columbia Artists Management Inc. before becoming director of booking & artist management at MKI Artists in New York City last year. “But my favorite courses were negotiation. One course, the Art of Lawyering, focused on how to make a settlement. I found that to be so interesting and motivating. It was the skill set: marrying the interests of two parties and coming to an agreement.”

During an internship at puppeteer Jim Henson’s intellectual property company, she also became intrigued with the operations of the sales department. “I talked to a lot of people on the sales side of things, how they took a concept like a Barney character and leveraged that into branding deals with clothing companies, music companies. I was finding myself interested in these legally adjacent types of work.”

MKI Artists, she says, focuses on classical soloists, ensembles, conductors, and composers who are “very mission oriented.” In addition to Montgomery, the roster includes pianist Jeffrey Kahane, the Miro Quartet, flutist Demarre McGill, and clarinetist Anthony McGill—two African American brothers holding first chair positions in the Seattle Symphony and New York Philharmonic respectively.

“I think there’s a real hunger in the marketplace now, for the kinds of projects that MKI Artists are doing,” says Horwitz. “That’s been a pleasant surprise.”

Her hand injury long since healed, Horwitz is principal flute with Camerata Notturna, a New York City community chamber ensemble. The mother of two children, she also once headed up their school’s parent-teachers committee.