Overcoming fear of rejection and taking your career into your own hands with Dimitri MALIGNAN (part 1)

Michelle Lynne: Hey everybody and welcome back to the Fearless Artist Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Lynne and today I’m very happy to have Dmitri Melan on. Welcome, Dmitri.

Dimitri Malignan: Hi. Thanks so much for having me.

Michelle Lynne: We’ve been talking about having you on for a while, because you’ve been part of the Fearless Artist for, I wanna say, a year and a half now. I think our first conversation was February, January, February.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah. Actually, Deanna uh, reached out to me in January of last year, and then I guess I started in February, March.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. You connected with Deanna on Instagram and you’re Romanian and she married a Romanian, so that was a nice instant connection. I remember at that point she was preparing some Romanian Christmas arrangements, so she, uh, she started talking to you and she was like, “Michelle, you gotta meet this Dmitri guy’s pianist in Paris.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’ll put it down on my to-do list, like, reach out to Dmitri,” and then I didn’t for, I don’t know, a while, and then we were looking for people to join the Mastermind. That was back when we only launched it twice a year. And then, yeah, you and I got on a call and it was super nice.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, I mean, you must have thought, like, “Another pianist, what am I?”

Michelle Lynne: No, every time, every time we get another pianist in the Fearless Artist, I’m happy. I love pianists. I mean, that’s— I mean, for me, community has always been so crucial. And I studied at the University of Montreal and on the, the music building is divided by instruments. So all the pianists practice on the fifth floor, and if anyone from UDA M is listening to this, then you, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And so all the piano is hung out all the time. And so I think I’m just so comfortable because just that sense of connection and understanding and this—like, kind of maybe shared suffering of like,

Dimitri Malignan: I mean, that’s kind of a different experience from what I had because, as you know, pianists are sort lonely most of the time. You know, you practice alone in your practice room or at home. Whereas the other instruments, you know, they’re out in orchestra gigs and, uh, chamber music and stuff. So the pianists are a bit more solitary. It was nice to be part of this community, uh, of TFA, where I could, uh, connect with other musicians and other pianists too.

Michelle Lynne: Actually, that’s good that you’re bringing that up because, I mean, I know my personality type is always to kind of find a group of friends and then harass them daily. And I think the University of Montreal is a very open, friendly, welcoming atmosphere, and I know not a lot of other institutions are necessarily the same way. I don’t think there was actually razor blades between the keys at Juilliard, but you know, you hear all this, the stories of, uh, the competition and, yeah, lots of schools are indeed very competitive. I was lucky enough to not be in a very stressful environment in my education, but still, uh, of course compared to other, it’s, uh, it’s another, another kind of life. Yeah, well actually that’s not a hundred percent true. Yours was very stressful ’cause you were going to do a Master’s during COVID. But first of all, before we jump into a million things, why don’t you introduce yourself or our audience, people who don’t know you? Give us a little background.

Dimitri Malignan: So, am 27, born in Paris and my parents are from Romania. So I have this double heritage, both Romanian and French. And, uh, now that’s the question most people like to ask after concerts, but I started playing the piano at the age of five.

Michelle Lynne: No, you took my question. Why are you doing this? You stole my best question for this episode. What, how old were you when you started playing? Also, you didn’t say your name. Can you say your name for us, please?

Dimitri Malignan: My name is Dimitri Malino, in case you want to pronounce it. Okay. I know it’s a, it’s a tough one sometimes, but, um,

Michelle Lynne: No, we have to say it like how that guy did on your, um, on your Bach podcast. Dmitri Mall.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, the most, uh, New York accent ever.

Michelle Lynne: You were, you were reviewed. You have a Bach CD and somebody reviewed you and you had sent me the podcast, and he said your name about 15 times and it was hysterical. Sorry, that was an aside. Continue.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, so, um, then I studied in Paris at the Ecole Normale de de musique Alfred Cortot… which is a very famous private school in Paris. I did most of my education there, uh, until the last year of, uh, what the school offers. So the, what they called the Diplome de Concertiste back then—so Concertiste Diploma, now it’s called an artist diploma, actually. And, uh, I was given the first prize that year, so the Preor— the Alfred Cortot Prize.

Michelle Lynne: The youngest person to ever win that.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah. So I was, uh, 19 and it gave me a bunch of concerts and, um, recording of my first CD.

Michelle Lynne: Which was Schumann.

Dimitri Malignan: Schumann, Prokofiev.

Michelle Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Dimitri Malignan: Which was the program I played for the exam as well. Um,

Michelle Lynne: It’s an amazing prize that the school has, and also to help you get your first disc out is crazy.

Dimitri Malignan: It’s very special and they don’t give it, uh, actually every year. So some years they wouldn’t actually give that prize. And, um, then I pursued my studies in, in Amsterdam at the conservatory. I was 19, so I still, of course, needed some proper education. So I studied, uh, at the conservatory in Amsterdam till my master’s, uh, which I got in 2020. Right. Indeed. When, uh, COVID started. So

Michelle Lynne: Your, your thesis, your master’s thesis was the day before lockdown started, right?

Dimitri Malignan: Precisely. So I presented the, the whole presentation, uh, the day before the school closed, and I packed my things and I came back to, to Paris.

Michelle Lynne: And did you think that you were going home for 14 days? Like the whole world thought we were going home for 14 days. Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: Told my landlady, “Yeah, don’t worry, I’m, I’ll be back in two weeks.”

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: And, uh, yeah, I was just permanently back.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Okay. Awesome. So that, that was a brief whirlwind history. So you finished your master’s at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and then since then you’ve been studying in Rome.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, so of course, uh, when I finished my master’s, I was still young. I was 22, but because of COVID, you know, no concerts, no opportunities whatsoever, I was a bit in between and I felt like I still also needed, uh, some guidance. So, uh, three years ago, I, um, started to study in Rome at the Santa Cecilia Academy, which is a postgraduate, uh, with Benedicto Lupo. So I’m very happy. I’m going there once a month. It’s a blast to be in Rome and getting some pasta every day. So

Michelle Lynne: I don’t wanna hear about it. I don’t wanna hear about it. I follow your stories and I get angry when I see fresh pasta. You said it was five bucks or something.

Dimitri Malignan: Five— right next to school, fresh pasta.

Michelle Lynne: Terrible. Ugh. Anyway. Um, very cool. So yeah, I mean, I didn’t finish my master’s till 25. I moved to Europe at 25. So of course at that age, I mean, especially as a classical musician, when are you ever done with your training? I mean, at that point I was thinking of starting the doctorate, so it would’ve put me another four years of lessons to come out at 29, 30 with a doctorate. So I think we’re as pianists, we just think we’re supposed to have lessons forever, forever.

Dimitri Malignan: Indeed… In most conservatories you would say you would finish a master’s indeed, uh, at 25, 26. But then you see most competitions, for example, are open till 32, 33, and that’s still an age where you can learn a lot of things. And when you compare with athletes, you know, if you’re a tennis player, you have a coach your whole career, you know, till you are basically 40. So of course, as musicians, I don’t see a problem with having a coach, a guidance. I mean, if you want a teacher every week, that’s great. Sometimes you might need only once a month or once in a while. But I think it’s still good to have an external ear to help you get through all the challenges, uh, both musically and in your career. For sure.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, I think that’s probably one of the biggest mistakes I made, ’cause I came over here and I wanted to do another master’s. The one I applied for was in Switzerland. There was only one spot because I already had, I already had a master’s, so I couldn’t do the normal master’s— was technicality. And then I did master classes kind of off, off and on. But I really wish that I had been like, “No, like I need to study with someone,” regularly just to have the goals and the structure. Because as soon as you get on your own, it is so easy to feel isolated, to feel lost, to not know what direction to pursue, to not have someone helping you. You know, should you be doing competitions? What repertoire should you be focusing on? Like, what is the appropriate next step for you? And for me, I think it was overwhelming. So I kind of shut down a little bit and I went into kind of teaching piano and doing whatever gigs I could. But yeah, it’s too bad. Um, it’s good that you found this, this program in Rome, and I know that you have like exams coming up that are insane. So you have like three programs.

Dimitri Malignan: Indeed. Yeah, it’s, uh, the last year, so I mean, in the third year, which is the, the last year of the program, and we have a very tough final exam, so I’m getting ready for those.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Good. Well, I think you’re already ready. You just had a really great recital this past week in Bologna and things are going well for you. So anyway, we’re having you on here today because you were, well, I mean, many things— it’s interesting to talk to someone who’s kind of taking the reins for his career. But recently you were the star of a Fast Forward call, and at that moment I knew I needed to get you on the podcast because, uh, you just came back from a few concerts that you did in the US your second time there, and as soon as you came onto the call— so Fast Forward for everybody listening, it’s our community and, uh, there’s 30 people in there. So there’s about 15 people on the call and Dmitri logged on and everyone was like, “Oh, Dmitri, Dmitri, you’re back. You’re back from your tour. Oh my gosh, we’ve been following you.” It was amazing. Everybody, everybody was so excited to see you and you were, you were like fielding all these questions because everyone’s like, “How are you getting all these concerts? How are you doing this? Is it like, are you working with a manager? How are you doing this?” And you were answering people very graciously. So I thought, you know, I’d love to have you on to come talk about the process of what does it look like. I mean, I think that’s the number one thing that people come to us for. Like, “How do I get more concerts? How do I build in the direction that I actually want my career to go? How do I know what to say yes to, what to say no to? How do I set fees?” So if you wanna share a little bit, that would be helpful.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned something, uh, interesting because that’s one of the questions I get asked most often: “Do you actually have a manager helping you, getting all your gigs?” So I do not at the moment have a manager— used to have one in the past. It worked to a certain extent, but it wasn’t like so influential in my career. So I decided to pursue without, and, uh, yeah, so I’m handling everything myself and, um, I mean, a person who has thousands of ideas and projects and— maybe some years ago I would get a little bit overwhelmed with all the ideas and I didn’t know how to direct my energy, my focus, and where to start. So sometimes, you know, I would have this burst of energy and just write hundreds of emails in, uh, one week and then get depressed because I wouldn’t get any answers, and then not do anything for six months and then complain about why I didn’t have any gigs, uh, during the season…

Michelle Lynne: That is very real. Thank you. Yeah, very real.

Dimitri Malignan: So, I think one thing that, uh, attracted me in TFA was to get more structured about, uh, my strategies and, uh, actually how to apply it on a more regular basis— how to get more efficient with pitching, with, uh, you know, reaching out. And, um, so yeah, I’m trying to be more consistent. I’m trying to, in a way, also not be annoyed when I don’t get answers. Like, you know, it is what it is. You know, people are busy or people have other priorities, but, uh, I think, uh, someone, uh, very influential in the Fearless Artist Mastermind recently said, uh, that you need to get what, 10 rejections, uh, per week.

Michelle Lynne: Did I say that? Uh, maybe— I mean, I, I took it from this YouTube video there where this guy, this— he left the corporate world and gave himself six months to kind of make it as an entrepreneur. So he came up with this thing called the Rejection Game. And so he’s like, his goal was to get a hundred rejections a month or something. So I think with the Mastermind, it’s like, “All right, let’s aim for 10. Like, who can get 10 nos?” Because the idea is that that means that you’re putting yourself out there, over and over. You’re getting used to the feeling of being rejected to the point where it doesn’t affect you or stop you— ’cause as you’re saying, like getting frustrated or, or pissed off if people don’t answer or if they do say no. Like, that’s, that’s very disappointing. That’s very discouraging, and I think a lot of musicians are coming up against that.

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, and, uh, another aspect was, um, as I said, you know, I got my degrees quite young. Uh, then I did, you know, all the classical, uh, path of, uh, “successful,” in quotes… artist… You know, doing all the competitions, checking all the big things I needed to check. I won competitions, I got prizes and everything. So then I was sort of expecting, I— things to just happen by themselves. You know, of course, after I won competition or after I got the Preor, I got some gigs. It was very nice. You know, I would receive some emails or some phone calls where people wanted to have me in their venues or in their festivals. But then slowly, of course, it disappears. And COVID didn’t help at all, of course, because then when we started again, you know, in 2022, 2023, other generations of music musicians came and people already forgot a little bit about you. So I was kind of depressed. I remember last year, in the beginning of the year, like, “Why is my season empty? Why is no one calling me?” You know? And, uh, that’s when I was attracted by TFA and I found that there were some strategies that could be helpful to take action basically, and make my own season happen, you know, and not wait for people to actually do it for me. And I must say that my 2024, 2025 season was really good. One of the best, uh, I had in my career so far. Lots of concepts, lots of exciting, uh, achievements, so, yeah.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, I mean, we got on the, the initial call and usually when I meet someone new, they— you know, let’s just be honest— musicians have a hard time investing in themselves. Putting money out feels like a loss for some reason. So, Deanna and I, you know, we price the Mastermind in a way that feels fair for the value that we’re giving, and also with the opportunities that we’re teaching people how to achieve, you know, one concert fee pays for the Mastermind, for example. But, you know, so I met you and I knew that you were still like, you know, a 26, but you’re still in a master’s degree. So I thought, “Okay, maybe Fast Forward something for you,” because it’s, uh, like our lowest— uh, it’s 57 a month— so that could be a great way to get you involved. And you’re like, “No, Mastermind sounds great.” And, um, I was, I was surprised. I was happy, but I was also surprised. And I didn’t really expect you to, to jump in, but you did. And also because you didn’t already know us— a lot of times people will come into Fast Forward first, and then they’ll, they’ll see how we coach and they’ll see how the community functions and then they’ll be like, “Okay, yeah, I’m ready to take a step up.” But you were, you were like, top down right away. Do you wanna talk about that?

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, I think I did like maybe one month of, uh, Fast Forward at first just to get to know everybody. And indeed then you pitched me, uh, Mastermind and, uh, I felt that was basically what I needed. You know, like in the last years I’ve been approached or I was in contact with lots of, you know, coaching programs in a way, but I always felt that they were very generic, uh, very non-personalized. You know, they would just give you basic advice, like, you know, “Do a website, uh, get your social media together.” I’m like, “Yes, thank you very much. I know all of that. I can open a book.” But with TFA, I found like it was way more, you know, tailored to the needs of, uh, of the clients. And, uh, Mastermind was like, you know, a short program. I think it was what, two months—

Michelle Lynne: No, three.

Dimitri Malignan: Three months. And I liked was the accountability thing. You know, like you do, you, we have a call, we get through a lot of issues and how to deal with them. And then by the next call we have to see what we did to actually solve, uh, these issues. And that was something that, uh, was quite important for me because I think, like many musicians, we get a bit carried away with all the things we have to do and then we say we are going to do this, but we don’t actually have a clear plan about how to do that and when. So I think it helped me a lot getting structured. I think my main issue back then was indeed I didn’t have any concerts planned for, like, the second half of the year. So we did the Mastermind in the spring of last year—

Michelle Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Dimitri Malignan: —and in the autumn and for the beginning of 2025, I didn’t have anything— like literally zero on my agenda. And, uh, by the end of the Mastermind I already started to have a lot of gigs planned and, uh, new contacts made. So yeah, it was a great investment and I knew that it was going to be beneficial because you and Deanna… I mean you. You are very involved in all of your, uh, musicians. You are, I mean, always extra with energy and, uh, involvement—that’s great. I mean, we feel really, uh, loved and we feel, uh, part of, uh, a great community.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. When you talk about tailored, I mean the Mastermind is set up that way where everybody comes on and they themselves say, “This is where I’m at. This is what I’m working on.” Like, that is good coaching. It’s you bring people into a place where there’s—you hold space for people to come in and say, “This is my current career situation, good or bad.” And actually we try to take those words off of it because let’s just look at it objectively. I’ve got this many opportunities coming up. I’ve got this many gigs, about these, this many potential contacts. Okay? Like you’re saying, “Let’s make a strategy, let’s make a plan. Let’s get the calendar out.” Like, by when do you foresee that things could be moving in the right direction? What was the accountability like for you between the calls? Like how did it encourage you? ‘Cause you’re saying you would get bursts of energy and then drop before Mastermind, but then in the program, how was it different?

Dimitri Malignan: Yeah, I would say, like, first of all, it was to be more consistent in the way I was reaching out, uh, to venues and presenters. So instead, indeed, of sending hundreds—a hundred emails, you know, in one week, I could send 10, 12, 20, whatever. But then do that every week.

Michelle Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Dimitri Malignan: And then see by the end of the month what was the result. And then one thing that was very important that you mentioned back then was about, uh, following up.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: Uh, something I think, especially me as an introvert, you know—

Michelle Lynne: I know coming onto this podcast was already a big step for you, so thanks for being here.

Dimitri Malignan: I—

Michelle Lynne: You’re doing great.

Dimitri Malignan: Hope my accent is bearable for the—

Michelle Lynne: Your, your English is perfect. Your accent’s wonderful. You’re good. You’re good.

Dimitri Malignan: Um—

Michelle Lynne: We’re gonna have to get captions on screen to what you’re saying.

Dimitri Malignan: Do we need French subtitles as well for your French, uh, followers? I know you—

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. No, they’re only on my piano account. They don’t follow TFA, so they’re, they’re fine.

Dimitri Malignan: Will bring other French people, I promise.

Michelle Lynne: Okay.

Dimitri Malignan: But following up, like when you reach out to a presenter— like especially in the mindset of a student still, because of course I was still a student. I’m still a student; I was fresh out of my master’s. Like when you reach out to a venue, it’s like you have to ask permission for them to let you play.

Michelle Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Dimitri Malignan: You know, like, “Please, I have this. Can you let me play?” You know?

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: If they don’t answer, you’re like, “Uh, I shouldn’t bother them. Probably they’re extremely busy.” You know, I will feel ridiculous if I actually, uh, send another email. But turns out, you know, I sent two or three follow-ups and I got some concerts after, like, sometimes after, after the third time I wrote an email. So people are just busy or they read your email, they went to do something else, and then they forgot, or they were waiting for their schedule to clear out or whatever. So there are many reasons, and one thing that was very important to get out of this mindset of asking permission was to know that this is a collaboration that you’re doing with the venue. So the venue has the audience, and the money. What you can offer is a performance for the people to actually come to the venue and pay their tickets. And so the presenter can actually earn money out of that. So if you don’t exist, they don’t earn money. So it’s a collaboration. You know, they need you, you need them. So… the greatest mindset change for me during the Mastermind was to say, “Hi, this is what I can offer. How can we collaborate?”

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: If you want to collaborate, great. If you don’t want— okay… You know, move on to the next one. But, um, yeah, I, I think that was quite, uh, quite important for me and the accountability of, uh, of the Mastermind was that, you know, I would come up with an issue with a problem and you or Deanna would be immediately like, “Okay, so how do you solve this?” So you wouldn’t yourself give the answer. You know, you try to implement in our minds how we can take action to solve the problem. You know, what’s the most logical solution for that? And of course then you give advice and guidance, but it’s not like you would say, “Ah, you should do this and that, and that and that.” And then we take notes and we come home and we do our homework, you know, and it works. It’s about how we change our mindsets. And I think I quite changed, uh, my mindset in the way I would.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, I mean, I’ve learned that’s what good coaching is— is empowering. First of all, coaching is collaboration. Coaching is an equal relationship between coach and coachee. So, I mean, of course I have thoughts and I’ve seen what other people do to get gigs, and I’ve, I’ve worked with hundreds of musicians at this point. So I, I have lots of ideas to offer, but I can’t just start, you know, shoving all of that at someone who’s coming into a call. Because then, first of all, they have reasons… that they haven’t done those things already. And it’s usually related to mindset, like you’re saying, or fear of asking permission to play is a huge thing. I mean, you kind of, you know, kind of glossed over that, but that’s like a massive mindset shift from going to asking permission, “Please let me play a concert. I’ve got this program.” Am I good enough for you to say, “Hey, I’ve got an interesting idea. I think it can fit your series, or your venue or your programming because of blank, blank, blank.” And now you’re gonna tailor your pitch. And I mean, I’d love for you to talk, first of all, where are you finding these venues? Who are you writing and share as much as you want to? ‘Cause I mean, that’s what people— you know, the Fast Forward, they’re called. Like, how do you know who to write? Okay, yeah, Google’s your friend. This is what I also do in my entrepreneurship class in, in Rotterdam, by the way. Like, we spend a whole class, like, looking at venues, looking at where your friends play, looking at where other people that you follow on Instagram have played and making an Excel sheet, working your way through the list. Um, but yeah, please share about that. And then also, with the pitch— like, are you tailoring it? What’s your strategy? And then the third question is, you know, with the follow-ups, are you just saying like, “Hi, did you get my email?” Or do you like, try to be interesting about it or, or what’s your strategy? And then I’ll share it, ’cause I got an interesting follow-up this week that kind of annoyed me, but I was like, “Well, good for you for following up.” Just being honest.

We’re being very honest here. We’re recording this episode late and I, I just came back from France today and I’m— we’re just being real.

Dimitri Malignan: Yes, we are. It’s a tough, uh, it’s a tough job. I would say I’m the least organized person… So I know you are way more organized. I, I mean, if we would compare our laptops or our phones, you know, I know you have files and everything is—

Michelle Lynne: Do you think that’s true?

Dimitri Malignan: Think.

Michelle Lynne: Okay. I’m glad.

Dimitri Malignan: You’re doing, you’re doing billions of things, and

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Well that, that actually, you know, to be fair, I had—I had to learn that when I was in charge of, uh, two conservatory jobs and TFA, like Excel sheets. Yeah. Anyway.

Dimitri Malignan: I look at your agenda, it’s like so clear and my agenda is always a mess. But the thing is, I know so many people— when they reach out to venues, they have indeed, like, these Excel sheets, like they scout a little bit, “What are the interesting venues?” And they write all the email addresses. And that’s great. I mean, I, of course, encourage people to do that; I’m not that dedicated to, uh, planning. So I am mostly based on intuition. And so I have, as I said, thousands of ideas and projects and I just think, “Okay, who could be interested in that specific thing?” And then I reach out to venues, which either I know— like, you know, more or less either I was in contact with the person at some point, venues I’ve played at, or I know someone who was there and I just came to the concert and I shook hands with the presenter.

Michelle Lynne: Right, which is a strategy, by the way, for everybody listening: go to concerts and meet people.

Dimitri Malignan: Actually… going out… Uh, it’s very important to concepts. That’s when you, where you make most of the connections. But then one limitation I found, uh, especially I’m from France and from Paris, it’s an extremely competitive market. We are hundreds of pianists. Everybody is super good. And there are lots of festivals and venues and they have their people. You know, like, it’s normal when you have a festival. I mean, you have a festival, Michelle, you like to invite the people you like. That’s normal. The people you know.

Michelle Lynne: The people I wanna work with specifically. Yeah. Yeah.

Dimitri Malignan: So I don’t know to which extent you actually, program people that just coldly, uh, pitch to you a program that will be a very small percentage of actually the, the people you program… So if I coldly pitch a presenter in France, my chances to get programmed are near zero. That’s also because, as I said, you know, I won prizes… I have a good résumé and everything, so people know who I am already in France. You know, I’ve played concerts, I have CDs, blah, blah. They heard the name. So if they wanted to get me on their festivals, they would just call me, you know? And that happens, you know, I still get some phone calls from time to time, of course, from people who just know about me or they looked at my website or whatever, and they want to invite me. So what I started to do recently is to expand a bit my geographical areas in a way, and to pitch in other countries where I haven’t played yet. And, uh, just see how it goes. You know, like just pitch to indeed to people who absolutely don’t know me. And I’ve had way more, first of all, answers, you know, because that’s already something—to have an answer—and then positive answers. Because these countries, so I’m talking, for example, about Asia, you know, I’ve started to, uh, reach out a bit in some Asian countries. Well, of course, big markets—there are lots of musicians—but maybe it’s less competitive than Europe or the US. And, you know, they just see your résumé, they see your proposal, and they’re interested because they say, “Yeah, it’s good quality, we want to have you.” So I had way more chances to actually have gigs outside of my country than in my country, which is a little bit annoying, of course, because I would like to perform more in France. But, uh, that’s, uh, a project for later. But so, yeah.

Michelle Lynne: I mean, I wanna push back on you because I know a little bit about the details. I mean, in Asia, you’re, you’re booking like three or four or five for November, right? And you’ve, you’ve played, you’ve played dozens of times in France. So I mean, I understand maybe the feeling of rejection has been higher in France than these cold pitches that you’re setting that are surprisingly working for you.

Dimitri Malignan: I mean, most of my concerts are still outside of France, like I would say more than 50% in any case, which—

Michelle Lynne: Okay.

Dimitri Malignan: You know, I’m glad to play abroad. That’s not an issue…

Michelle Lynne: Okay. But I would like to perform for sure more in France. But it’s a tough, uh, tough market. Okay.

Dimitri Malignan: A topic for another podcast. But, um, I was saying, even in the Netherlands where I studied, it’s also, you know, a country where there are lots of musicians and, uh, I try to perform there and I perform from time to time, but I would like to perform more. But yeah, people have their own circle of musicians they want to, uh, promote…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, that’s important. That’s important.