A marriage in the arts

Talking music and dance with the Grossmans of Princeton

By: Regina Tan
   Ironically, Andrew Grossman, the future senior vice president of Columbia Artists Management Inc. in New York City, had been "the worst student with numbers."
   It took some time to get his foot in the door at CAMI, which most people in the classical arts business would describe as the best-known and most prestigious management firm in the world.
   There was an opening as a sales agent "at the extraordinary salary of $12,500," said Mr. Grossman. "They were going to fire me after one year, but I hung on."
   Even though he was assigned to the sales division’s lowest-selling geographic area, Mr. Grossman managed to generate a $3.2 million profit for the company. Following this success, he worked as CAMI’s national sales director for 13 years.
   Still with CAMI, Mr. Grossman focuses on producing performances by classical musicians, dance companies and theater groups. He has produced tours for Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet and actress Lynn Redgrave, among others.
   "I still get a kick out of being at the back of the house and seeing the audience applauding wildly (for a group that) you brought from Germany to that community. On that grassroots level, you had something to do with it," he said. "It’s more interesting than making software."
   Being immersed in culture is not a new thing for Mr. Grossman, who resides in Princeton with his wife, Virginia.
Mr. Grossman grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City, living close enough to Lincoln Center to have easy access to classical music, dance and theater performances.
   When he was 11, he became fascinated by the sound of the French horn during a wind quintet performance. He also liked "how it (the French horn) looked — tubed and curved."
   Later, he told his mother about the performance. A classically trained pianist and violinist, his mother had him listen to Brahms’ First Symphony and asked him if he wanted to play the French horn. He did.
   Mr. Grossman’s talent was detected by his band teacher, who saw that he had a "propensity toward the instrument." Subsequently, they found a private teacher who had been principal horn player for the New York Philharmonic.
   When he graduated from New York’s famed High School of Music and Art (now called the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts), Mr. Grossman found that his private teacher had arranged for an audition with George Szell (1897-1970), music director of The Cleveland Orchestra. A renowned recording artist, Szell is ranked among the 20th century’s great conductors.
   Although Mr. Grossman had been offered full scholarships at the New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School and Columbia University, he accepted Maestro Szell’s offer to play in The Cleveland Orchestra on the condition that he also be awarded a full scholarship to the Cleveland School of Music.
   At 18, he became the youngest member of The Cleveland Orchestra. Cleveland turned out to be "an uninteresting cow town that Moses Cleveland had created," Mr. Grossman said.
   The orchestra members were "like uncles," according to his wife, the former Virginia Griffee, who met Mr. Grossman when The Cleveland Orchestra toured with American Ballet Theatre.
   Virginia Grossman had a more predictable career as a soloist with American Ballet Theatre. Early in her childhood, friends and family spotted her dancing talent when she "danced up and down the streets."
   One of her neighbors in Fairview (Camden County) paid for a year’s worth of tuition at a local dance studio. After working in a foundry, her father would bring Virginia to her ballet lessons. Her mother worked as a secretary for the Pennsylvania Railroad’s chief engineer.
   It is difficult to unearth where Mrs. Grossman developed her musicality.
   According to Mrs. Grossman, there was not "a classical record in the house" because her parents "hated classical music and couldn’t stand Brahms."
   She went to New York when she was 15 to train with Thalia Mara, a famous ballet teacher who later became her mentor.
   At 19, Mrs. Grossman joined the American Ballet Theatre corps de ballet because she knew that ABT was "an institution of great tradition." And she "wanted to dance with (Anthony) Tudor," the world-renowned British ballet dancer and choreographer.
   Several years later, Mrs. Grossman found that the company’s touring schedule was not compatible with her married life.
   "I felt strongly about staying with my husband," Mrs. Grossman said. She decided to leave ABT’s "grueling" touring schedule in 1979 after dancing for 16 years with the company. She began spending more time on the tours her husband produced abroad.
   When at home, however, Mrs. Grossman taught ballet at the Princeton Ballet School and actively supported the school’s performing company, now known as American Repertory Ballet.
   A turning point came for Mrs. Grossman while accompanying her husband on a tour by the Bolshoi Ballet. She began assisting the Bolshoi’s dancers — including many stars — with massage. Then she met Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993), not so much a ballet star as a ballet supernova. Nureyev was very picky about his masseurs, Mrs. Grossman recalled, but eventually submitted to her ministrations "on a bus, of all places."
   "Rudolf said to Virginia, ‘You have a talent’," said Mr. Grossman. And that was the beginning of Mrs. Grossman’s massage therapy service, Windsong, which specializes in shiatsu and deep message, "mostly for women. I’ve had the business now for 13 years."
   Windsong can be reached by calling (609) 921-1690.