Resonate

Violinist Janine Jansen is attempting to build a large audience for herself without using her attractiveness to her advantage — or at least not too much. It seems to be working, too.

An article published last week in the (Canadian) National Post compared the Dutch violinist’s strategy for broadening her audience with that of Vanessa Mae. If you’ve ever seen Mae play, you know that she’s not exactly interested in our still-somewhat-stuffy expectations of classical music.

Unlike Mae, Jansen uses her attractiveness in a subtle way. As the article says:

Jansen’s commercial engine is clean and sophisticated, even when it’s outright manipulative. Her website, for example, features prominently displayed press releases that include supportive statements like, “Yet Janine Jansen (29) has more to offer than just a beautiful body. She is the most exciting violinist of her generation.”

So while Jansen won’t make a prurient spectacle of herself, we’re reminded that she could (and pull it off, visually, like Mae did) if she wanted to.

That’s quite a bold statement, calling herself the most exciting violinist of her generation! My question is, how do other women feel about (even subtly) exploiting their looks to attract listeners?