We are an entrepreneurial team, passionate about the arts and culture, with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
We are an entrepreneurial team, passionate about the arts and culture, with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Founding Partner and Managing Director
A native New Yorker, Albert Imperato is a graduate of Stanford University and has worked for more than 30 years in the music and recording industry. Since co-founding 21C Media Group in January 2000, he has managed the promotion and assisted in the career and strategic development of 21C Media Group’s diverse client and artist roster.
Founding Partner and Managing Director
With more than 25 years in the music business, Managing Director Jessica Lustig brings a global perspective to 21C. Clients have included Google, the Global Fund and the World Bank.
Founding Partner and Director of Public Relations
Glenn Petry has worked in the music scene – both promoting and performing – for more than 20 years. He co-founded 21C Media Group in January 2000 and has been the Director of Media Relations since its inception. Glenn developed his interest in promoting classical music while touring the U.S. with the experimental rock band Drunken Boat, after which he became a consultant to the classical music industry for a dozen years.
Senior Consultant
Louise Barder has been an integral member of 21C Media Group since 2000, shortly after its founding. As the company’s Senior Consultant, now based in the UK, Louise works principally with the British and European media, renewing and enjoying longstanding relationships with cultural journalists across all formats and platforms on the other side of the Atlantic. Drawing on more than 35 years’ of experience in the classical music industry, she knows what makes a good story and is adept at meeting journalists’ needs.
Until July 2023, as 21C’s Editorial Director, Louise oversaw a four-person team of writers and editors, taking ultimate responsibility for ensuring the quality and accuracy of their work. With her fine-tuned ear for linguistic nuance, she succeeded in elevating 21C’s written materials to a level that’s rarely matched. In 2021, Louise was tickled to find herself named one of the world’s ten “least worst” classical music publicists by Norman Lebrecht, “arguably the most influential journalist covering classical music” (Gilbert Kaplan).
Born in the UK but raised all over the world, wherever her diplomat father’s postings took her, Louise launched her classical career at Novello, where she helped Judith Weir, Thea Musgrave and other composers prepare their new scores for premieres. With Stanley Sadie as an early mentor, Louise went on to work as an editor on a variety of publications, including the Musical Times, The Strad magazine, the BBC’s Radio Times, and the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music and Grove Dictionary of Opera, as well as the music and youth reference books at Oxford University Press in its Oxford and New York offices. In 1993, Louise co-founded Romophone, a Gramophone Award-winning vocal reissues label, which she ran until it ceased trading in 2004. Before joining 21C, she worked in the marketing and press department of Universal Classics. Founded in 2011, Glossophilia, her popular blog about the use and abuse of the English language, has a strong social media following, and during the pandemic, Louise launched a podcast spin-off. She lists swing dancing and Ethiopian food and music among her other passions.
Senior Account Manager and Chief Financial Officer
Having studied classical piano from an early age, Michael Lutz has a deep appreciation of classical music. He has enjoyed diverse positions within the music industry, developing and leading press, public relations, and retail/radio/billboard promotions. He has worked for various labels and has been involved with projects ranging from eclectic jazz and electronica to dance and pop.
Senior Director of Digital & Creative Media
With her first internship in the performing arts starting the same month Napster launched, Amanda MacBlane has spent her entire career helping organizations, companies, and artists navigate the rapid evolution of our media and tech landscape with the goal of finding the opportunities within.
Account Director, Digital Strategy & Production
Sarah Means pursued her interest in vocal and opera music from an early age. A Rutgers University graduate, Sarah studied classical voice and international relations with a focus on the Middle East and France.
Staff Writer
Rachel Stadlen is the Staff Writer of 21C Media Group. Since joining the 21C team in 2006, she has been responsible for producing news releases, bios, program notes, website copy and other written materials for an outstanding international roster of artists and organizations. From established stars to emerging talent, long-lead season announcements to breaking news, multi-disciplinary festivals to one-of-a-kind tours, grand-scale productions to cutting-edge new work, and classical music to Broadway, world, roots, theater, dance, cabaret and beyond, Rachel has written extensively about music and the performing arts. Working to tight deadlines, she collaborates closely with clients to tell their stories, hone their messages, and craft each project into a cohesive and compelling narrative.
As a passionate public relations professional with over five years of experience in the performing arts industry, Emily Walsh is dedicated to telling stories that advocate for the arts. Hudson Valley born and raised, Emily began performing at a young age and quickly fell in love with theater and the arts. A graduate of Hofstra […]
As a passionate public relations professional with over five years of experience in the performing arts industry, Emily Walsh is dedicated to telling stories that advocate for the arts.
Hudson Valley born and raised, Emily began performing at a young age and quickly fell in love with theater and the arts. A graduate of Hofstra University, she earned her BA in public relations with minors in musical theater and marketing in 2017. Prior to joining the 21C Media Group team, Emily worked on the public relations team at Carnegie Hall, where she gained incomparable experience publicizing concerts and coordinating press and photography for visiting presenters at Carnegie Hall.
Emily previously held internships at CooperKatz & Company (now G&S Communications), 21C Media Group, Derris, and the Theatre Development Fund. She is beyond excited to re-join the 21C team, working with some of the world’s most prestigious artists and cultural institutions.
Publicist
A native of the Hudson Valley, Noel Steier is a seasoned performer and passionate storyteller.
Noel began her musical studies at the age of ten, and has since been mentored by some of the best clarinetists in the world. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, concluding her education at Michigan State University, where she received a doctorate in clarinet performance. Noel has performed with orchestras and ensembles in the U.S. and abroad, including engagements with the Miami Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Mostly Modern Festival Orchestra, and Tuscia Opera Festival Orchestra.
Account Director, Digital & Creative Media
Through her experiences as a music educator in the South Bronx and as a digital strategist for Young Concert Artists, Michele has dedicated her career to creating space in the arts for all historically underrepresented voices and making classical music both accessible and relevant to young people from all communities and backgrounds.
In-House Designer & Web Developer
As an art director, photographer, and web designer, Mat Dunlap has worked in the music industry for more than 15 years. He joined the 21C team in September 2018, after six years spent working in close collaboration with the company to provide web design and development for Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Daniel Barenboim, the late Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Daniil Trifonov, and other members of the classical community.
