Although not my area of expertise, I thought this would be nice to share and maybe helpful perhaps:
Hi Jeffrey,

I wanted to ask you, how do you go about making new contacts and getting new gigs?
I have written about 300 eMails to different orchestras lately, introducing myself and asking for cooperation and I got a response of about 15 eMails, out of which 2-3 were interested in getting at least more information.
How do you get beyond the first obstacles? Do you call first, do you write first, do you make personal contact, do you have recommendations?
Maybe you feel like sharing some information about getting started and going in this business.
Thanks a lot

My reply:

All of the above. It takes lots of contacts to get just 2-3 replies--for conductors, get good letters from your artists whom you've worked with that have stayed in touch with you--that can be most helpful when submitting your name--get them on a web site with their permission of course. Get letters from your teachers--I always believe that people believe what they read for the most part--as long as it is honest--and from people others might recognize. Wherever you conduct, stay in touch periodically--you have an agent? Even so, personal contact is always nice--they get agent letters all of the time. Do you have a dvd of excerpts from concerts? You can send that out to many places--he did, and got several replies. Get to know the GMDs of the cities near you. Let agents who don't represent you that you would certainly appreciate being on their shortlist for cancellations when their artists are not available. Say hello to conductors and artists backstage when you visit concerts. If it goes well, offer to send your things to them. You never know if they would say 'yes' to that.

Let me know how it all goes.

Best,

Jeffrey