Being a musician today takes more than just talent. Between online presence, streaming platforms, building an audience, managing finances and finding your uniqueness, the path can feel overwhelming. I’ve faced those same challenges, and that’s why I created the Modern Musician’s Survival Guide. Each episode offers practical steps and real-world strategies, as well as conversations with musicians, industry experts, and creatives, to help classically trained musicians bridge the gap between their studies and building sustainable careers, stay relevant and thrive in the modern music world.
How Musicians Can Create Their Own Opportunities with Simone Leitão
What if building a sustainable music career meant creating your own opportunities instead of waiting for someone to discover you?
In this episode of Modern Musician’s Survival Guide podcast Ghenadie speaks with Brazilian pianist, cultural entrepreneur and mentor Simone Leitão about building an independent music career, developing projects, sponsorship and creating opportunities beyond the traditional classical music industry.
Originally from a small town in Brazil, Simone studied in Brazil, Norway and the United States before deciding to return to her home country and build her own artistic and entrepreneurial path. Over the years, she has developed concert series, festivals, educational initiatives and youth orchestra projects, learning how to navigate corporate sponsorship, fundraising and the business of classical music along the way.
Throughout the conversation, Simone challenges the idea that musicians must wait to be chosen by orchestras, concert halls or established institutions. She introduces a distinction between the existing music market and the opportunities musicians can create themselves through collaboration, networking and projects that bring value to communities and partners.
Drawing on her experiences in Brazil, she also shares practical lessons about approaching potential sponsors, understanding their needs, developing realistic budgets, dealing with rejection and building long-term relationships.
Topics discussed include:
Building a career beyond the traditional classical music industry
Why musicians should stop waiting to be discovered
Understanding the existing market versus creating your own
Networking inside and outside the music industry
Identifying potential sponsors and funding opportunities
Approaching companies with collaboration rather than simply asking for money
Developing projects that respond to community needs
Understanding the real costs of concerts and cultural projects
Building relationships and dealing with rejection
Using your existing network and personal advantages
Protecting artistic development while running a business
Online education, mentoring and creating additional income streams
Setting goals, protecting practice time and staying consistent
The conversation offers a different way of looking at a professional music career. It is something musicians can actively design, build and develop.
Episode Links and Resources
Simone's website: http://simoneleitao.com/ (http://simoneleitao.com/)
Follow Simone on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simoneleitaopiano/ (https://www.instagram.com/simoneleitaopiano/)
Conncet with Simone on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-leit%C3%A3o-d-m-a-7936302b/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-leit%C3%A3o-d-m-a-7936302b/)
Subscribe to Simone's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@simoneleitaoofficial4031 (https://www.youtube.com/@simoneleitaoofficial4031)
Connect with Modern Musician’s Survival Guide
LinkTree → https://linktr.ee/modernmusicianssurvivalguide
Free 15-minute clarity introduction call for musicians → https://tr.ee/Seu_ed1duN
30 Sept 2026
Know Your Numbers: Personal Finance Basics for Musicians
In this solo episode of Modern Musician’s Survival Guide, Ghenadie introduces the basics of personal finance for musicians and the numbers that can help us understand where we actually stand financially.
Drawing from his own experience of learning to manage money more intentionally, he explores the importance of financial clarity: understanding what it costs to live, what it costs to maintain a music career, where income comes from and what individual projects really pay once time, travel, preparation and other costs are taken into account.
The episode also looks at the often-overlooked cost of time, the difference between stable and variable income, how different income streams can serve different purposes, and the bigger question behind all of these numbers: what kind of life do you actually want your money to support?
This episode serves as Episode 0 of a special series on money and personal finance for musicians coming in November 2026.
To prepare for the series, listeners are invited to use October to get clear on their own numbers: expenses, income, time, project costs and the financial goals they want to work towards.
Topics include:
- personal living expenses
- the professional costs of being a musician
- stable and variable income
- understanding the value of your time
- what concerts and projects actually pay
- allocating income intentionally
- defining financial and career goals
- using money as a tool to build the life you want
This episode is based on personal experience and educational resources and does not constitute financial advice.
Connect with Modern Musician’s Survival Guide
LinkTree → https://linktr.ee/modernmusicianssurvivalguide
Free 15-minute clarity introduction call for musicians → https://tr.ee/Seu_ed1duN
16 Sept 2026
Redesigning Your Music Career Without Starting Over with Eszter Bodnar
In this episode of Modern Musician’s Survival Guide, Ghenadie speaks with coach, consultant and trainer Eszter Bodnar about career redesign, changing definitions of success, and how musicians can build professional lives that actually fit who they are.
Originally trained as a lawyer, Eszter has spent years managing classical and contemporary music projects and working with musicians, ensembles and organizations. Through that work, she noticed how often musicians leave formal education highly prepared for the stage but far less prepared for the business, career and life decisions surrounding it.
The conversation explores why there is no single correct path through a music career, why visible models of success can be misleading and what happens when the career we once wanted no longer fits the person we have become.
Rather than treating change as failure, Eszter introduces the idea of career redesign: making smaller experiments, gathering information, adjusting direction and gradually building toward a professional life that feels more meaningful.
The conversation also explores:
• why career and life cannot really be separated
• defining success on your own terms
• portfolio careers and less visible models of success
• why changing direction does not mean you have failed
• loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy
• using small experiments instead of making dramatic career leaps
• resilience, adaptability and curiosity as career skills• building a support network around change
• why musicians need to celebrate progress
• reconnecting with the “why” behind your work
• time management for musicians
• creating space by removing work that no longer serves your priorities
• weekly and monthly reviews
• managing projects, tours and competing priorities
• why being busy is not the same as knowing what you are building
A career redesign does not necessarily mean abandoning everything you have already built. Sometimes it means keeping what still works, changing what no longer does and giving yourself permission to build a path that fits you better now.
Episode Links and Resources
Eszter’s website: www.ebodnar.com
Follow Eszter on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eszterworksandtravels/
Conncet with Eszter on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbodnareszter/
Connect with Modern Musician’s Survival Guide
LinkTree → https://linktr.ee/modernmusicianssurvivalguide
Free 15-minute clarity introduction call for musicians → https://tr.ee/Seu_ed1duN
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