Paul Pelkonen

570 44th St. Apt. 4 Brooklyn, NY 11220 USA
Website: http://super-conductor.blogspot.com/
Contact

Professional Experience

I am a freelance writer based in New York City with 16 years experience writing for newspapers, magazines, and the Web. I specialize in feature and profile writing with my primary beat being classical music and opera. For the last seven years, my classical music blog, Superconductor, has offered the best in music coverage, with an almost-daily mix of concert reviews, CD reviews, and general previews of upcoming operas staged in New York and on the East Coast. The blog, hosted on Google's Blogger platform, has seen fast-rising numbers with current pageviews numbering above 40,000/month. I am a skilled, experienced interviewer, a good writer and a terrier after a story lead. I am accredited at most classical music and opera performances spaces in North America and have built a strong network of contacts in the arts industry.

Expertise

Copywriter
9 Years
Writer
17 Years
Social Media
8 Years

Specialty

Arts & Humanities
17 Years
Books & Literature
5 Years
Music
17 Years

Industries


Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B)
9 Years
Online/new media
15 Years
Newspaper - National
9 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

14 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

International Herald Tribune (10+), Washington National Opera (6-10), Wizard Entertainment (6-10), Opera News (Metropolitan Opera Guild) (6-10), Time Out New York (6-10), New York Daily News (6-10), Time Life Books (3-5), Georgia Music Magazine (6-10), BBC World (with IHT) (1-2), Chamber Music Magazine (1-2)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Rolex (through IHT) (10+), Credit Suisse (through IHT and BBC) (1-2), ViaMei Magazine (1-2), Ziva Continuum (1-2)

Other Work History

Writer/Publisher: Superconductor. Writer, Publisher, Hair Whip. Freelance Contributer, Ear For Opera, International Herald Tribune, March 2005-Present Freelance Contributor, BBC World Visionaries, Aug. 2008-present. Associate Editor, Citysearch.com Nov. 1996-March 2001.

Technical Skills

Mac OSX, Blogger Editor, Basic HTML,

Foreign Language Skills

Spanish

Unions

Freelancers Union

Computer Skills

Word, Excel, OS 10, Windows XP, Basic HTML, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, OSX Preview,

Equipment

MacBookPro, IPad, IPHoneMac Mini, Audio Recorder (IPod), Audio Recorder (phone line) Audio recorder (cassette), Personal music library--audio and books.

Work Permits & Visas

U.S. Passport.

References

Linda Healey International Herald Tribune lhealey@iht.com Paris, France Melissa A.E. Sanders Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 404 733-4846, melissa.sanders@woodruffcenter.org Personal: Alfred Hubay 35 Park Avenue Apt. 16C New York NY 10016 (212) 685-9332 Ethan Sacks Web Editor The New York Daily News (212) 210-2074 esacks@rcn.com

Awards

1997 Webby Award for Best City Guide, 1998 PC Magazine Award for Best Sports Coverage.

Associations

Society of Professional Journalists, AvantGuild.

Showcase

Most Recent Work

An overview of ten lesser-known composers in the classical music field.
Interview with conductor Donald Runnicles on the ins and outs of the company's new production of Wagner's <i>Tannhauser</i>.
Interviews with Lorin Maazel and Robert Lepage in conjunction with Covent Garden's production of Maazel's new opera, '1984'
"Tuesday night's New York Philharmonic performance of the Mahler Ninth was stopped dead by an unusual instrument--the iPhone. An iPhone (using the marimba ring-tone) went off repeatedly in the fourth movement of Mahler's final completed symphony."
Article on Tan Dun's "The First Emperor"
The most expensive musical in Broadway history reconstructs the Peter Parker story as a modern Greek myth set in New York City. But at this stage, it is a deeply flawed theatrical product where spectacular visuals struggle through a web of mediocre rock-opera balladry.
An article for "Ear for Opera" detailing the world of Opera Prompters.
A look back at the year in music and some of the best articles from Superconductor in 2010.
General interest article on Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd."

Writing Samples

Profile on composer Tan Dun.
Article written for book on "Basic Classics" for TimeLife Books.
Interview with Alfonso Antoniozzi
General interest article on Wagner and the Ring
Interview with Daniel C. Rodriguez, opera-singing officer in the NYPD.

General

Review of the Metropolitan Opera's minimalist Willy Decker staging of Verdi's "La Traviata."
Article about the influence of Richard Strauss on modern romantic comedy.
Review of Anna Bolena at a small East Village opera company.
Article written for book on "Basic Classics" for TimeLife Books.
Review of a DVD of the Berlin State Opera production of Wagner's opera Rienzi.
Review of a DVD of the Munich production of Hans Pfitzner's little-heard opera "Palestrina."
Interview with Geoff Tate of Queensryche and article about the rock opera "operation: mindcrime".