Fearless Artist Career Day 2026
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Starting at 12:00 PM CET
Talent was never the problem. The classical world hands you scales, competitions, and a polite queue to wait in, then acts surprised when the career never arrives. Fearless Artist Career Day is the opposite of waiting. One full day, built for musicians who would rather build a career than audition for one. No gatekeepers, no permission slips, no "that's just how it works." Just the people, the tools, and the honest conversations that actually move a career forward.
The full speaker lineup is coming, and it is worth the wait. The smartest move is not to wait to register. Lock in the Early Bird rate now, before the lineup drops and the price goes up. You bring the ambition. We will bring the room.
Book Your Ticket Now
Early Bird Rate available until July 20, 2026.
Use code MYCAREER for your Early Bird Discount of 33%. But do so before July 20, 2026!
A full day of workshops, talks, and real exchange. Every session runs one hour, back-to-back, from 12:00 CET onward. You will sit in the room with promoters, industry experts, coaches, and fellow musicians who are doing the work, not just talking about it. Come for one session, stay for all of them.
Ben Bliss
Being the CEO of Your Career
Every freelance career is a small business — and you are the CEO of yours. Yet most of us never learned the basics of financial and entrepreneurial literacy that every freelance career depends on to survive and thrive.
Ben Bliss is an American tenor who has performed leading roles on the world's great opera stages since 2015, from the Metropolitan Opera to the Paris Opera, London's Royal Opera, and Staatsoper Berlin. A two-time recipient of the Met's Beverly Sills Artist Award and a 2025 Grammy nominee, he is also the author of Making It Work, the practical guide to financial and entrepreneurial literacy for freelancers in the performing arts. More at benblisstenor.com.
Rosalyn Aninyei
The AfriClassical Project
Building a classical music organization in Nigeria — bridging European classical music with African art music, from the grassroots to the concert hall.
Rosalyn Aninyei, founder of the Vesta Orchestra and Opera Foundation, is a violinist working to create a world-class stage for Nigeria's many talented performing-arts professionals. Her ultimate goal is a Lagos Opera House where art music and opera by African composers are performed and celebrated.
Dr. Molly Gebrian
The Science of Better Practice
Discover what current brain research reveals about getting the most out of your practice time. You'll leave with actionable strategies you can apply right away to practice more effectively and perform with greater confidence.
Dr. Molly Gebrian is a professional violist and scholar with a background in cognitive neuroscience. Her expertise lies in applying the science of learning and memory to the practice and performance of music. Her book, Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician's Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing, was published by Oxford University Press in 2024. She teaches at New England Conservatory. More at mollygebrian.com.
Robert Guy
Big Art in Small Places
How creative leadership and community ambition brought opera to unexpected places — and proved that big art belongs everywhere.
Born with severe hearing loss, Robert Guy did not hear birdsong until a childhood operation — a moment that sparked his devotion to music. He now turns that early silence into dynamic performances from the UK to Hong Kong, conducting for Classic FM, the BBC, and ensembles across Europe and Asia. As co-founder of NEW Sinfonia, he brings world-class music to communities across North Wales. More at robert-guy.com.
Deanna Petre
American violist, co-founder of The Fearless Artist Mastermind, and a player who has built a career on her own terms across two continents. After a decade performing throughout Paris and Europe, she now works from Minneapolis with ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, teaches her own studio, and writes on the messy reality of balancing a music career with motherhood. A graduate of Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Deanna brings the calm and the structure that turn big career goals into actual plans.
Michelle Lynne
Canadian pianist, educator, and entrepreneur based in the Netherlands, co-founder of The Fearless Artist Mastermind, and Artistic Director of the Opus 16 Concerts series. She has toured widely across Europe, taught entrepreneurship at Codarts Rotterdam and Conservatorium Maastricht, and hosts The Fearless Artist Podcast, with recent talks at Classical:NEXT and Hunter College in New York. Michelle coaches musicians to drop the perfectionism, lose the glass ceiling, and finally build careers that pay. A Master's and Artist Diploma graduate of the Université de Montréal, her core belief is blunt: artists deserve to earn well and should never be their own ceiling.
Bernhard Kerres
Bernhard has sat in nearly every chair in this industry. A former opera singer, he led a listed technology company through a full turnaround as its CEO. Then he went on to run one of Europe's most prestigious concert halls as CEO and Artistic Director of the Vienna Concert House. He founded HELLO STAGE, the global network for classical musicians, and built the AI platforms RolePlays.ai and CoachBernhard.ai, turning decades of coaching into tools that leaders and musicians actually practice with, not just listen to. Author of "Be Your Own Manager" and a board member of several arts organizations, he teaches the next generation at MUK Vienna, the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Lucerne Festival, and the Mizmorim Festival. His message never changes: stop waiting to be discovered and run your career like the founder you are.